Tuesday, August 9, 2022

 


An Idea in Germination


That spirit consumes spirit, just as flesh consumes flesh.  The Eucharist, ayahuasca, demonic possession.

Monday, August 8, 2022

 


A Forced and Inauthentic Smile


And beyond that, a sharp intake of breath before responding.   The sharp intake of breath always signaled anxiety.  It might be anxiety about anything. Perhaps she was making a professional sales pitch and someone raised a challenging question for which there was no non-awkward, non-self-serving answer.

In my case, the anxiety was almost always a signal that I was coming dangerously close to the line that separates mundane friendship from intimacy.  It was like the old Lord Buckley sketch, where the protagonist comes upon a desirable woman by the side of the road.  "Hey baby, it's YOU and ME, BEHIND THE TREE!!"  The young lady replies "But that would be GOIN' AGAINST NATURE!!!!" 

Except, of course, that if Tom Brady were making the proposition, nature would find a way to accommodate it.

I don't cast blame on her.  She was waiting on a Prince Charming.  An imposter appeared and ruined everything.  She had to go back to rock bottom, and crawl her way out of it.  This she did courageously.  But there was no place for me, alas, in this, except as a sympathetic bystander and a chronicler of the train wreck.  In the end she got tired of me even in this reduced and forgettable role.



Sunday, August 7, 2022

 


Disclosure Is All But Upon Us


The wave is breaking; the momentum is clear.

  • Garry Nolan
  • Chris Mellon
  • Brandon Fugal
  • George Knapp
  • Ross Coulthart
  • Bryce Zabel
  • Kirsten Gillibrand
  • Mike Gallagher
  • Travis Taylor
  • Eric Weinstein
  • Michio Kaku
  • Whitley Strieber
  • Jacques Vallee
  • Diane Pasulka
  • Jeremy Corbell
  • James Fox
  • David Fravor
  • Ryan Graves
  • Robert Salas
  • Richard Dolan
  • Kevin Knuth
Are they all crazy?  Are they all lying?

The optimists say that this will bring us together.  The pessimists say that, in extremis, every man and every woman will try to save him/herself.




Thursday, August 4, 2022

 


An Incomplete List of Those Who Will Soon Be Forgotten, If They Are Not Already


  • Mort Sahl
  • Skitch Henderson
  • Carmen Miranda
  • Mother Theresa
  • Jack London
  • Dave Garraway
  • Isaac Jogues
  • Rico Petrocelli
  • Cookie Gilchrist
  • Edie Gorme
  • Jacques Cousteau
  • Winslow Homer
  • Gabby Hayes
  • Cab Callaway
  • Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
  • Candace Bergen
  • Charlie McCarthy