Chad Parenteau's Lost Causes, 4-19-23

Why You Need to Subscribe to This (no, really!)

I’ll tell you the Chad News First

So the Assemblage Gallery is no longer hosting Stone Soup. I don’t know if this is meant to be permanent, but I’m not inclined to care and would rather move on as if we’re exiled forever.

Facebook has banned me from using their Messenger app. When I announced this, people responded with the laughing emoji. It’s not funny. For all our hatred of Facebook, we don’t realize how much we rely on it until some bot takes it away.

How did my situation happen

I made this “Brotherhood of Nero” TikTok where I worked on creating photos of our various presidents doing their version of playing the fiddle spliced with disasters they failed to prevent. Even though I was originally going to use that picture of GW Bush playing a guitar while New Orleans drowned, I decided a video named after Nero needed more fire. So I spliced George Bush reading along of The Pet Goat with the Towers getting struck Twin 9/11. All very factual, but sending a photo of 9/11 to myself on Messenger from my laptop (to make it easier to load onto my iPhone, where most of my TikTok work gets done) was too much for the Facebook bots, and as of today, I now have 25 days until I’m out of my version of Facebook jail and can send messages.

So much of Stone Soup depends on me spoon feeding them links to online show. Even though I tagged all the regular attendees to a link for tonight, I predict pure chaos, as people can still send me messages but I have no way of replying. This ridiculous Facebook action comes not only during National Poetry Month but also the month of Stone Soup’s fifty-second anniversary. And almost no one checks their regular email when Messenger is easier.

The next few weeks are going to be fuuuuun!

This is why I am so glad every time I get another notice that someone subscribes to my Substack. The online systems that have supported me (by accident in all likelihood) are changing and becoming less user friendly for anyone who wants to do more than post Minion memes. It’s becoming clearer that I need to adapt to these changes quicker than I have.

Stone Soup Poetry

Last week’s in-person gathering was all open mic. Probably because I was sensing something happening at the gallery. Read the Stone Soup Croutons poem from that week, “Summer Prelude.

This week, it’s an online all open mic. I hope you can find it.

Oddball Magazine

Click here for poetry by Chrissy Stegman, Julie Marie Hoey and Edward L. Canavan.

On Monday, Geoffrey Fallon (The Secrets of Skinny People) extended his longest comics story ever a little longer, Anne Skove gave us her own kind of a survival story in She Who Laughs Lasts, and Shannon O’Connor marked the tenth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Oh, and yesterday Glenn Bowie gave us a combination of poetry and photography for National Poetry Month. We might have one more coming tomorrow.

Jason Wright kicked off the first poem column with his Jagged Thought. James Van Looy’s It’s All One Thing follows on Thursday. Janet Cormier (Bamboozled No More!) and Bruce Wise (Wise Words) return this Friday. And maybe to close the week…a surprise? Best stay tuned.

The Tuesday Poems

Part Thirty-Five of my Tuesday Poems series is up on my Patreon. Join now and read everything behind the paywall.

I’m Back

My Comic Book Haiku on Planet of the Apes #1 and Guardians of the Galaxy #1 are up now at The Ugly Monster.

Happy National Poetry Writing Month

I’m keeping up with the poem-a-day challenge. Click here to read everything I’ve written to date.

Miscellaneous

Check out my website and get a lot of the news before it winds up in this email.

Check my blog out for exclusive content and poetry news not related to Stone Soup.

Check out my Medium. I have more coming!

As I mentioned above, I’ve kept busy on TikTok.

Soon, I might start a new series on my Patreon.

Thanks for reading down this far.

Chad