Who?

—From CB— I’m reading an interesting book right now called Humankind—pop science, breezy, but well written—that explores the old question, whether man is inherently savage and in need of restraint (Hobbes) or only made so by so-called civilization (Rousseau). The...

Liars…

 —From EF— What is truth? And why does it matter? I was a liar for the first 21 years of my life. At the age of 22 (I don’t count my first year, when I wasn’t talking yet) I ran so hard into the massive shit-pile of these lies that it knocked me flat and...

Ah, Politics…

—From CB— Okay, so here are my political thoughts in one big blurt, whatever the consequence. Be warned: there are NO positions taken on any vital issues. Bipartisanship doesn’t meet in the middle. It just means both sides listen, with real ears, to the other’s...

Brothers…

—From EF— I have four brothers. Only my father’s sons knew each other. I only know the other two of them, and one of those is gone now. This brother I lost twice. On this January 19, the adoptive brother I grew up with died, and it was only two weeks before that...

A Zoo in the Head…

—From CB— The craft of writing, like all art forms, is a slippery pig. You get a grip, but it has lots of tricks up its sleeve (alas, mixed metaphor). Moving from nearly 50 years of playwriting to prose fiction, some skills stand firm, others are wobbly. Among new...

Stories…

—From EF— “Mama, tell me a story.” Much as I wanted to, I usually found myself coming up blank. Then one time with our little daughter, as we were both on one of those old-fashioned playground merry-go-rounds where you had to kick the ground with your feet...

Malaise. . .

—From CB— Shakespeare’s most perplexing villain is Iago. What’s his motive? He has too many. He’s passed over for promotion. He suspects Othello has tupped his wife. There’s the race thing, and a great British actor even proposed that Iago had the hots for Othello....

Joy . . .

—From EF— I am mesmerized by things I see regularly that are never the same twice. The ocean is with us every Sunday, and today she was like the wonderful album cover from Tijuana Brass, “Whipped Cream.” (Remember vinyl?) And several times a week we end...

Community . . .

—From CB— In a Facebook group I’m part of, an issue arose as to whether our community was infected with white supremacy. The discussion shifted from the original question to a more fundamental one: what is “our community”? What constitutes community? We’re not in...

The Great Ascent . . .

—From EF— Tonight is the winter solstice, the longest night, the pivot point where we begin to see longer days and shorter nights. But tonight is also that indrawn breath that is held, not doubting that the turn will begin, but not totally assured that the light will...