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  • Power to the Twit

    How does the line go? “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” I think it was Maya Angelou who said that, and I also hold that she is correct. If I might add a caveat to that statement, and I am speaking only from my personal experience, I never realize that someone is showing who they are in real time; it’s always after the fact.

    I sort of feel that’s what happening with Elon Musk and Twitter. I don’t think he’s as business savvy as he keeps telling us. I mean, there are a bunch of decisions that he’s made that don’t add up to me. Like the laying off of 50% of the Twitter work force. There is a reason layoffs don’t happen the way Elon is doing it. He’s spending a dollar to save a dime, which generally is the sign that the decision was emotional and not logical.

    Deep pockets do not mean you are a genius at business. Deep pockets mean you can afford to make many, many, MANY mistakes until you figure out the right thing to do.

    Also, there is the whole content curation, and what is and is not allowed in the platform. He says he’s all for free speech, unless you are planning on mocking him, then that speech isn’t allowed. But he’s cool with you mocking, and hate-speeching other people. Got that. Just not him. Mocking Elon is wrong. Remember: You are free to do what Elon tells you.

    You are free to do what Elon tells you!

    YOU ARE FREE TO DO WHAT ELON TELLS YOU!!!

    (Full disclosure; I borrowed that line. It’s based off a Bill Hicks joke.)

    In the end, I think he just wants the attention, and he’s getting it. This is what, like the third time I have written about this, because on some level, this whole situation just gets in my craw. Part of it is that I don’t trust uber-wealthy people. The other side is that I have a hard time not looking at the train wreck happening right before me. But at the end of the day, 3,700 people are losing their jobs for no fault of their own. That’s 3,700 families being upended, having their livelihoods, and futures jeopardized, for what? So, some rich guy can be the global center of attention.

    Elon has been showing us who he is for a very long time, and only now some of us are seeing the morally bankrupt fraud he is.

    (Hey, thanks for coming all the way down here. As long as I have you, could I ask a favor of you? We know how this works, so if you could, please, give a like, a comment, a share, or even follow this blog. This is how the revolution gets televised.)

  • ODDS and ENDS: Touching Toes, Vince Guaraldi’s Evolution, Halloween Candy, and Vote

    (There’s no money in it, kid.)

    May daughter can touch her toes. This is a huge point of pride for her, and one she likes to show off often. I think their gym teacher had them do it at school the other day. My wife, also, can touch her toes, and she, accordingly, is very proud of this fact. I, on the other hand, cannot touch my toes. I am equally proud of this fact. I’m like an inch away from touching them, and if I put forth a little more effort, I am sure I could snap my knees in half and do it. Furthermore, I don’t think I have ever been able to touch my toes. I am sure that someone out there might think of that as a shortcoming, or even a failure, but I would like to point out that my lack of toe touching has not held me back in life. I have been a very productive member of society, achieved many thing in my life that I am very proud of, all while overcoming my lack of phalanges connection. I shall continue to preserver.

    Do you know who Vince Guaraldi is? He’s the jazz piano player who wrote all of the Peanuts/Charlie Brown music. A long time ago, I bought his first jazz album on CD: Vince Guaraldi Trio. I think the reason I bought was that I wanted to know what his non-Peanuts music sounded like. This was like twenty years ago. Then this week, a thought came in my head – totally random – that I should listen to Guaraldi’s discography in order, and hear how his sound evolved from that first album. It is an interesting development, from a very traditional jazz sound, to becoming something that has a pop angle to it by the end. Sadly, Vince died in his late forties by a sudden heart attack, so it feels like his career was cut short only half way through.

    I’m not eating my kid’s Halloween candy this year. Personal vow, there really isn’t a story there. I just don’t want to feel like a thief around her.

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    (What’s that you say? You love this blog but wish you could do more? You are in Luck! Just hit that Like, Share, Comment button, and if you are feeling super supportive, please follow this blog! A lonely writer in New York City, will be greatly appreciative!)

  • Dispatch from the Car: Schedule Issues?

    Let me establish this from the beginning, it is 9am and I have my computer on my lap while I sit in my car. I’m doing the Alt Side Parking dance, and any minute the street sweeper will coming rolling by. I bring all of this up because I’m having more issues with scheduling my life. The only time I would have today to get any writing done is this magical hour and a half; sitting in the car on the streets of New York.

    I write about scheduling often, I know. I just might be on a Quixotic quest to somehow find the perfect way to lay out all the tasks I must accomplish in a week, and like puzzle pieces, find a way to make them all fit together for maximum efficiency, and minimum effort. I am positive that I can create this system.

    And the reason that I think this is because for ten plus years, my day job was scheduling. I scheduled, rehearsals, classes, and events for a couple of studios in New York. The more efficient and tighter I could make a schedule of studio spaces, the more money I could make for the company, and the better off we all were. I wasn’t the greatest at it, but I was pretty good, and had a decent career because of it.

    Yet, in my personal life, I am really shitty at it.

    I could also argue to myself that what I am really trying to do is put order on the uncontrollable. It’s like I’m taking chicken nuggets, and trying to assemble them to recreate a chicken. Sadly, those pieces, no matter how much energy is devoted to this endeavor, will never fit together to form anything resembling a chicken. Let alone, I’m not even sure nuggets are chicken.

    I hope you get my metaphor.

    The point here people, is that I feel compelled to blame my lack of an effective schedule as the reason why I am not accomplishing more in my day. I need to complete something every day, check a box, cross it off my list, as long as I get something done. (I think this is the real reason I blog every day. I accomplish a task five days a week regardless if anyone sees it.) And right now, I don’t feel like I am accomplishing anything.

    And I haven’t gone to the gym in three weeks, but that’s a different story.

    (Like, Comment, Share, or Follow. Any one of those will do, but a combination, or selecting all four will make me a very happy blogger out here in the sticks. And Thank you for taking the time to read it.)

  • Short Story Review: “Narrowing Valley” by Jonathan Lethem

    (The short story “Narrowing Valley” by Jonathan Lethem appeared in the October 31st, 2022 issue of The New Yorker.)

    (I couldn’t Spoil this one if I tried.)

    Illustration by John Gall

    The short story is an art form that I love immensely. Basically, everyone tells short stories; “Funny thing happened to me at the grocery store…” “Let me tell you about this guy at work…” “So, I was out late last night…” Some people might be better at telling a story, history professors seem to be great at it, but we all tell “Beginning, Middle, End” stories to our friends and family all the time. As such, we know when a story works, if it’s entertaining or not. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but it’s also not easy telling a good short story. There isn’t a lot of time to set up characters, situations, conflict, and a climax that has meaning. Not to mention setting tone and theme. This is why I have bottomless respect and admiration for writers that can create, craft and tell a great short story.

    But I also have bad boy fascination with those writers who take all the rules of short story writing, and throw them out the window and try to create something brand new. These experimental writers are like the kids that sit at the back of the classroom, or they’re the people who wear sunglasses to their writers group. I think of Jonathan Lethem that way after having read his story “Narrowing Valley.”

    It is a story told in seven sections, and from the section titles, it has the feel of a concept album, especially with the “reprise” at the end. The story is told in the 3rd person, and takes the angle of telling us about the story the writer wants to tell. The story that wants to be told, is actually based on another story told by a different writer, which lends to creating a feeling that this story is like a “cover song.” (Hence, why I use the album reference before.) What the story ends up settling on, is how to describe a character, and the personal history this character has to the writer.

    This is an experimental type of short story, and I would be hard pressed to identify if or where there was a climax. But Lethem does identify that the ending really isn’t an ending, and that the story might not have even started. And what were the characters hoping to accomplish? I’m not sure. Yet, the story did go someplace. It did take a journey, and maybe the only person who “learned” anything was the writer. I didn’t feel like my time was being wasted, or that this experimentation was to see how long a reader would put up with this form.

    I can admit that I would understand why some other person would read this, and not like the story. My opinion might be based more on personal bias, rather than a more logical critical interpretation, but I do like experimentation for the sake of experimenting. It’s the only way the art form evolves and moves forward.

    (Did you know that you have the power to keep blogs like this one alive, and thriving? Yes, you have that power! By taking a second of your time to like, share, comment, or follow this blog, you will be exercising your power, and showing the algorithm who’s truly in control!)