Music Monday/Monday Musings: Now for something completely different.

So I decided to put my interview skills to the test. I have written a few humorous ones, Leon Stevens Interviews Himself, but after participating few new book promos, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce some of the authors that are featured on my page, Discover New Authors and Free Books.

My first conversation will be with poet/composer Abigail de Niverville. I immediately was drawn to the parallels in my skill set, which was what made me decide to do this feature. So stay tuned (Ha! There’s the music reference for today), I hope to have it ready for next Monday.

And, now for something not so different:

For today, I will continue on the Olympic theme because, hey, why not. One more year and I’ll be annoying you with Winter Olympics stuff.

As reader (Stevie) brought up a point about performance enhancing drugs. as with most (all?) sports, there regulations and rules preventing the use of these, which in most people’s minds make sense. There is a definite advantage (plus negative long-term disadvantages) to the use, but if some do and some don’t, it does create an imbalanced playing field.

Some athletes knowingly take them – hoping not to be caught, and some unknowingly do – from an honest mistake to subterfuge (I’ve been waiting a long time to throw in that word). The consequences can range from banning (some as harsh as lifetime), records and medals being taken away, to asterisks being places beside your achievement.

Kudos to the Olympic committee for allowing some Russian athletes to compete in the last few games amidst the allegations of doping by their government. On a side note: They should also be applauded for creating a refugee team for the displaced athletes with no place to call home.

Maybe the solution is to have a competition solely for athletes that take PEDs. Wouldn’t that be exciting? Imagine how much weight they could lift or how fast they would run/swim. Gymnastics would be interesting, though.

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.