“We’ve Never Had It So Good!” A Capsule Autobiography

In the Autumn of 1962 I went to school, came home, turned on the television, and worked on my stamp collection at our kitchen table. Outside, a glare-y sun beat its post-September light low over the water as it dropped behind the tip of Long Point. On the oval black & white screen, beneath a

Mourning for the World

This has been the most recent example of the machine doing exactly what it does. It was the result of an arrogant and willfully blind way of being and acting, thrashing against very clear and visible limits, working to its fullest capacity to do nothing but lead to disaster. At this level, and coming from such a position of hubris, pleas of intentionality, that this was unintended, can have no sway, just as the pleas of a killer’s intent have no sway in a law-court. These are no more than cries of surprise at being caught-out when the perpetrators had always felt secure. Not secure that they were blameless, doing good; only secure that they were unreachable, that the consequences of their actions would only fall on others.

Captain Smith & Amelia Earhart, pathological optimism

Hope is not confidence. Confidence is propped up by optimism. Hope is sustained by courage.

“How’s that job search coming along?” Seemed like a simple enough question!

“The point is, it’s gettin’ easier to see that the set-up’s crazy not us. Well, we’re crazy too, can’t help it, born & raised in this happy-horseshit dreamin’-of-the stars! Hollywood or Rigel III, all part of the same Fundamentalist Belief System.”

New Year, New Place

“Who is this guy?” That’s what people wonder. I’ve never had a good answer. I’ve never really had an answer for myself, so busy tearing down assumptions or running away from any label, finding them either too limiting or false. Still it’s a valid question, one that should have an answer, one that would help me as well as those I’ve confused up to now.

Introduction to Shoal Hope

Introduction to Shoal Hope Last night I watched Bill Moyers delve into a chapter of his own history that has been central to the shaping of all our histories.  He went through Lyndon Johnson’s Oval Office tapes as if through a scrapbook of his own youth.  In it he found snapshots of what it was

Author, Authority

I keep returning to the questions surrounding these two terms. I’m a writer and therefore aspire to Author, have in a limited sense been one with my book on Design, but here I’m talking about the role of Author of Fiction, the capitals are semi-ironic, just as my thoughts on the subject are semi-muddled. I