John Bowen
Bio
I am a NYC based Musician and Writer originally from Atlantic City
Stories (19/0)
The Good People of God
"Have you been saved by the Holy Spirit today?" The first thing that caught my gaze was the massive cross around her neck. It was hand nicked out of wood, about 8" tall, 4" wide and 3" deep, so deep that is appeared to be in 3D. It laid perfectly between her bosom and created a perfect trinity across her chest: the father, the son and the holy breast. It was attached to her pencil like neck by a large piece of hemp, the kind that religious orders use to cinch their robes tightly again incoming evils and I worried that if she leaned too far to one side she might be thrown off balance by the weight of the thing, strangled and cast down towards the unearthly fires.
By John Bowen2 years ago in Fiction
The Fabulous Table Lady of Atlantic City Complete Parts 1 - 4
The Fabulous Table Lady of Atlantic City Part 1 Where else but in Atlantic City? As my mother got older we used to stroll the Atlantic City Boardwalk searching for oddities. We searched for different oddities, or I should say those that piqued our individual tastes and missions. For Kate B, my mother, every one of these creatures was a charity case, someone to chat up and donate some amount of money, usually small but often ranging into the $10 amount which was a lot for her (although in truth the money was taken from money I had won at the slot machines). You see, Kate B and I would go into a casino and I would give her $20 to spend which she would promptly pocket. Then, when I won, she would scoop up every last quarter into her bucket. So my winnings would end up in the pocket of one of the oddities.
By John Bowen2 years ago in Humans
A Shiny Objects Christmas
Crystallina lowered her head to Goblitina in a gesture of self assured smugness. "Are we not the most wonderful people on earth?" she asked her husband. He lowered his head back and clinked it to the outer edge of her beautiful globe shaped head. It clanked like a little bell which elicited a squeal of delight from his wife.
By John Bowen2 years ago in Fiction
The Fabulous Table Lady Of Atlantic City Part 4
“1, 2, 3, Blow!!!” “Happy Birthday Celeste!!” Celeste, aka The Fabulous Table Lady of Atlantic City, blew out the candles on her 40th birthday cake and looked over her many friends and fans. All of her fellow performers were present, the man in the wheelchair, the tiny man, the woman of enormous girth, and, of course, lurking the in the shadows, those curious twins of Ventnor City. She was also pleased to see Rocco and the Tiny Wonder. She could scarcely believe it when she had rolled onto the boardwalk on her motorized table for her daily shift as “entertainer extraordinaire” and saw the assembled throng. This, her family, had come out to celebrate her life, the life of a woman who had spent the better part of her working life laying face down on a motorized table hustling for spare change while playing a Casio organ with her tongue.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Fiction
A Call For Justice
Let's Reduce Full Time Working Hours from 42 to 32 Hours Per Week Over the 100 year period from 1870 to 1970 the number of hours a person worked declined from 61 hours per week to 42. Why haven’t working hours continued to decline? It has been 50 years since the last reduction and the time has now come to reduce the working week by at least another 10 hours by the year 2022.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Journal
Silence
The room was long and narrow, not much furniture and of a very white color, almost like the color of the coral sand outside the window. The sunlight danced off the sand and skipped along to the endless expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, glinting and shimmering as it moved along the waves. My mind traveled with it for a brief instant.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Fiction
World Embassy Speech
World Embassy Speech The world is witnessing a crisis in Afghanistan that is the result of an illegal and disastrous war in Iraq which was instigated 20 years ago under the invented war on terrorism. The aftermath of this war has left us with defenseless global nationals and de-humanized citizens who face political terrorism locally as we all, at the same time, face both corporate and political terrorism globally.
By John Bowen3 years ago in The Swamp
The Smiling Clam Meets the Tiny Finger
My father always had an incredible sense of humor. None of us were sure how he developed this as his own parents were a somber pair and had the outward appearance of those people that you see in 19th century photographs staring out as though they see the guillotine about to come down on their necks. Somehow he was able to overcome this limitation and develop his own wry view of the world which never ceased to surprise.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Families
Iam 195 - Notes on Global Citizenship
Global diplomacy is the future of traditional diplomacy and I believe that if everyone acts as a global diplomat we can advocate for forward thinking ideas like universal basic income and borderless systems that will truly protect citizens in all 195 countries with safe food to eat, safe water to drink, safe air to breathe and give people the right to work by choice and not by force.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Earth
Quilting
"You will take the small pair of scissors and I will use the large ones," my mother instructed me as we sat at our large improvised quilting table. My father had laid a large piece of plywood across two sawhorse beams in the back yard so that mother could engage in one of her favorite leisure activities and as it was summer break I was also to be involuntarily employed in the production of the quilts.
By John Bowen3 years ago in Families