-
Strauss was good
Status and hierarchy are represented and sustained by the arts they enjoy and pay for. High art may be provoked and generated by money, but the spirit of art finds its own ways to exist in the world.
-
-
-
-
-
The Rosebush
Who do I think I am? Do I think I’ll live forever? No. I know better. I’m not a child. Children think they’ll live forever. They run around through the world taking risks no sane adult would ever consider. Most children grow up. I grew up, but only kinda sorta. I still do things without…
-
Back to Bach
I’m developing a better appreciation for Bach. When I was little, very young, my Father made disparaging remarks about Bach. “His music sounds like a one-legged man sawing away on one note on a violin.” As I listened to more music, I was able to conclude that my Father was Old School in his taste,…
-
The New Old Lament, the New Dance
Things can get worse, and do. As the “Supreme” Court continues to destroy our democracy, we are learning a new dance. As the music changes, so will our steps.
-
-
nobody is above the law
We live in strange times where law is relative, slogans are empty, and unhealthy food.
-
It’s already too late
It isn’t paranoia if it’s real. I remember when I was little and saw the movie “Invaders from Mars.” That’s where the boy hero falls through the ground and the aliens grab him. It scared me so bad I couldn’t sleep.
-
-
Where are we you am I
I don’t know. If you’re a trailblazer even if people follow you it just goes to show by definition you don’t know where you’re going
-
Oligarch NO
It reminds me of that movie I once saw and want to see again. They Might Be Giants. Starring George C. Scott, one of the famous real actors. He plays the good guy. Fighting against the everywhere bad, like Don Quixote.
-
Attention!
Military minds can be off base. The next generation of narcissists may be worse than the current generation. Teach your children history.
-
Imagined Nightmare Surgery
Going under the knife is never relaxing. Sometimes nightmares are of a surgical nature. Thankfully, this was only a dream.
-
Schubert was smart
A smart composer will sometimes use second-rate poetry for his songs so they won’t compete with the music. Also, thinking about Franz Schubert’s famous Winterreise, and one of the more notable recordings available to enjoy this masterpiece.
-
Bed for One
Sleeping alone in a single bed. When we were together, no bed was big enough. We roamed all over it.
-
Video Chat – Good Bones
The view from abroad. And a real Estate Advert: Picture of an empty field, a few stones on the ground arranged in partial outline. Caption: Good Bones. Room to build. A real fixer-upper.
-
-
The Persistence
Some things persist. I fought the fight. Still am. Archives that survive drag my past into the now. The persistence of uncertainty again raises its head. What now?
-
Been There, Done That
It must have been fifty years ago. I was teaching elementary school. The School District had set up a special classroom with computers. It went badly.
-
A whiff of dying town
Dying towns exude the whiff of dissolution as history shuts them off. A part of the I-5 is tumbleweeds, blowing alkali dust, the stench of tens of thousands of cows standing in their manure, and rusting oil horses replace wild paints and pintos.
-
Both Sides Are Not Equal
Questions lead to answers. A parable of a child’s desire to change minds amidst America’s current desire to return to the problematic 1950s fantasy world.
-
-
There’s always something
Don’t stop living while you’re alive. Age and retirement lets me slow down enough to see what I know and be aware of it. Every day there is something wonderful to enjoy.
-
Students Thank Teachers
When students thank teachers, they acknowledge that education is working as it should. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. And all teachers were once students, and we also appreciate our teachers.
-
-
Why do I do that?
Are writers sadistic when they show how hard life is? Light and happy is important. But also considering the darker nature that lurks among the human population is something a writer is duty-bound to explore.
-
Brief Encounter
Finding friends. Meeting a like-minded person who also enjoys reading. There are many of us. We. Me.
-
The Internet is getting to me
It’s already here. I’m starting to sound like them, write like them. They’ve messed with my brain and implanted the formula.
-
They gather
Conclave of evil. Wearing black robes and chanting the dead Latin tongue, fate is decided in the docket of shadows
-
I could have written that
It’s a meeting of minds, and I recognize myself. It’s comforting to know there are more like-minded thinkers out there.
-
water the plant
Take proper care. To be clear, you are the plant. Take care of yourself, first.
-
New non-medicine
At risk. That is to say, intelligence is at risk. The slide into idiocracy continues.
-
-
We’re Baaack!
We were back from France and I needed to go walking. We took a day to settle in, catch up on things like the mail, clear away the spider web over the door camera, adjust the internal clock which jetlag had altered especially for Kristina and Chaz, and the next day, I got dressed and…
-
The Trump Refrigerator
Trump Appliances become a household name. Your electric bill may take your breath away, but at least you’ll know you are a patriot.
-
-
You think you’re safe?
The defense of “just following orders” was most famously rejected during the Nuremberg trials following the capture of the leaders of Germany’s fascist government. May we live to see this kind of accountability again in our lifetimes.
-
-
Beyond the Words
Don’t stop there. I didn’t. Sisyphus pushed the rock uphill, it rolled back down, and he pushed it up again. Good story. Instructive. But it’s just a story, and we can change the ending.
-
Polish Jokes
More bad jokes. Given the state of the world, most of these should rightly be told about Americans these days.
-
Conditionally Operational
Repetition is commonplace. Autopilot. Fake it till you make it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes we learn and grow.
-
the little man
Living a small life with few belongings seems to be the norm. But it is still possible to live life large and full, and to stretch and grow.
-
Unfashionable
Fashion is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes that’s where it should stay. I guess I’ll never understand it.
-
-
Joining the Cult
Join the Cult. “And will you renounce the misuse of language, the meaningless words like “freedom” and “truth”?”
-
The Build-Your-Own Salad Bar
The nightmare of government and food. I remained as alert as I could manage to be, noting the signs everywhere. When I entered, I saw that an entrance fee had already been assigned to my tracking number. I almost turned around and left on the spot, except that another sign announced an exit fee to…
-
The Selective Christian
So-called “Christians” pick and choose, and often do so quite loudly and proudly. Some even go further and style themselves as the Antichrist, like Trump has started to do. Many Bible-thumpers have now noticed how upside-down Trump has been all along.
-
-
-
Gender Bender
“It ain’t right, do it be?” This ‘transvestigation’ of every woman who doesn’t conform to some fantasy stereotype has gotten completely out of hand. Beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes.
-
-
Art Criticism
Art criticism, like all value judgments, is a matter of opinion based on reasons we may not always know. “Experts” can help, but beware.
-
Special Ops Pre-emptive Strike
Sometimes we need to do a little more recon, gather intel, and evaluate our defensive posture. Then we can pet the dog because it will be a lot more fun.
-
Concert Review
French Music concert review. An all-French classical music concert got me thinking in French, and the old grade school phrase popped into my head. Perhaps more French lies ahead?
-
The Working Poor and the American Dream
The American Dream is in jeopardy but can be saved. I foresee the day when the American Dream gets so far out it gets to the limit of away and there’s no more room for people to stake a claim and have a house. The Dream disappears.
-
Close enough
Reaching the pinnacle of anything isn’t always required to feel fully satisfied. Sometimes, we find deep contentment in what we already have.
-
-
Now I’m sitting in the car
Leaving one house for another, with some regret. Now I’m sitting in the car my luggage stowed I’m looking at the rented house as we move on to the next…
-
-
What can you do with a drunken?
There’s always a solution. It used to be that decaying wrecks sunk to the bottom of the ocean, out of sight and lost to the natural erosion and cleansing of the ocean. Perhaps it can still be this way.
-
You can’t get from here to there.
The future of transportation. You can’t get from here to there. That’s because the road isn’t finished. They’re still building it. I don’t know what happened. Except that I’m paying for a road that isn’t built yet.
-
Run it up the What?
Which way the wind blows. Run it up the What? Flagpole. To see who salutes. But if nobody salutes, then what? Leave it up there? Waiting for the wind?
-
M lifts a leg
Some people just don’t get it. When Judi Dench took on the role of Old Deuteronomy in Cats, people cried, “Foul! No! She can’t be a fat old cat who lies down and lifts her leg!
-
As the sun moves
Seeing it all without moving. As the sun moves and the light changes so does the focus and I see the moving panorama of the whole world from my window where I’m sitting in my chair without moving
-
-
-
-
Time Travel
Time lets us travel through itself. This post has travelled through time to reach you, dear reader. A fond memory of a wondrous visit in time and through time. Pull the lever or click the button, and be transported.
-
I Had a Monkey
I told them I was almost just like Salvador Dali who used to walk his anteater around the streets of Paris. Except that I couldn’t afford an anteater. A flight of fancy for a Saturday story.
-
It was Paul Newman
One thought leads to another, one memory to the next. Some are new to you, but blessedly not new to me. I thought at the time (and I still do) that Newman had that rare ability in a movie star screen actor to project beyond the screen and penetrate the audience. Maybe it was the…
-
Frank & Isis & Mia
Everything written is intended to communicate. We need more communication. A bit of today’s story: I gestured expansively, “There are people everywhere…” She finished the thought, “who are ready and willing to talk together like a community of friends.”
-
I’m the Butt
Some things aren’t funny. They sent me to the brain doctors for a brain scan. The brain doctors said, “We have to find it before we can scan it.”
-
Aging Gracefully
However you look at it. I don’t know what it feels like to be 84. I don’t feel it. But I am. I’ll get an inkling when I’m 85. In a few months. Meanwhile, I’ll just be 84.
-
Irrational Pie
We all need education so we can communicate with each other. In philosophical realism we realize the infinitely unreachably inexplicable relation between our radial selves in relation to the circle of our own circumference, like the disparity of means and ends.
-
-
Speaking of Anthony Quinn
A powerful actor who could play almost any background, and made movies we all should see. And he’s a local boy, with roots in East L.A., close to where I grew up in Monterey Park, just a little farther east, like a suburb of East L.A.
-
The Graveyard of Trees
Driving back up I – 5 from Altadena to Kensington, we passed again on the right the Graveyard of Trees. What once was an orchard is now row upon row of dead trees, lying on their backs facing away from the road, their roots pulled and sticking up in the air. Thousands of trees, rows…
-
The Cannibal Nextdoor
I think, of course, of Flanders and Swann. Leave it to the British and their Music Halls to perpetuate the past. I have the recording. The opening number is a Swann Song, sung by Swann, who usually accompanies on the piano with both hands the darker voiced Flanders, whose popular favorites include, “I’m a Warthog…
-
Food Can Die
Food has a shelf life. We juggle platitudes. “Everything dies.” “We begin dying before we’re born.” “Everything new is old again.” “He has a hungry look.” “Food for the soul;” when the soul is sick, they die together.
-
Searchlights in L. A.
An early memory is verified. Hysteria over imagined invasions created an alternate reality that lasted for generations. During WW II, Los Angeles went to war with a weather balloon.
-
I’m just a retired soldier
When you find out who they really are, you can keep talking friendly, but about something else.
-
A Trick of the Mind
and I’ll just take y’all with me holding to the myth we make together from detritus not obviated by arthritis as we play the game of life dissecting like a knife the good from bad happy from sad
-
Ken and Barbie and Trump
Dolls come with different capabilities, sometimes with moving or removable parts. ICE Barbie will soon be replaced with a smooth-crotched Ken doll.
-
Trump’s Satellite
Sometimes the craziest political conspiracy theories turn out to be true. Sometimes they’re just crazy. It’s getting harder to tell them apart. It’s easy to figure things out once you start thinking about them.
-
Dialog(ue)
Now people don’t even go to the library, those libraries that are left, they stay home, sit at a keyboard and screen, or carry a phone, and type symbols to each other.
-
I’m just a kid
I ditched the water wings and dove for the bottom as an explosion rocked the pool split the concrete and drained the water. I stood on the bottom in the deep end raised my arms and yelled, “Why?”
