A speculative mind

  I am one of those nameless, faceless bureaucrats. Yes, that is my job. Though I actually have a name; I even am rumored to have a face. Bureau is the French word for desk, so you could say bureaucrats are “desk people.” In short, I work for the government. I sometimes have to deliver unpleasant news to a taxpayer. I sometimes have to tell them that the deed they recorded won’t work and they will have to record another one with corrections. Or we can’t process their deed until they pay their taxes. I can understand why some of these things upset people. The thing is, we don’t decide these things. It is not the bureaucrats that make the laws. The legislature writes the laws. We are required to follow the law.   If you are going to get mad at someone, get mad at the legislature. Or maybe get mad at the voters who voted the legislature in (That’s you, by the way). The same thing happens when the voters vote in a new district, or vote for a bond, or a new operating levy for an ...

  E pluribus unum was the unofficial motto of the United States of America since its founding, and even before its founding. It was approved to be included on the Great Seal of the United States by Congress in 1782. Ever since it has appeared on many US coins. The Latin phrase e pluribus unum translates to: “out of many, one.” It is intended to put forth the ideal that even though we are many different kinds of people, we are one people. We are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and independents, but we are one people: e pluribus unum. We are White, Black, Native American, Asian, Hispanic, and many more, but we are one: e pluribus unum. We are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, and all the rest. But we are one: e pluribus unum. This is of course the ideal. In the modern world we are factioned and fractured. Sometimes it is hard to imagine that we could ever come together and agree on anything. Sadly, my country is not alone in this. Many countri...

  The Dutch House is a novel that is “not.” It is not a love story. It is not a mystery. It is not a thriller. It is not an allegory. It is not a cautionary tale. It is a story about a family. For all the things it is not, it is a story the gets you invested in the characters. It is mainly about the narrator, Danny, and his sister Maeve (they are of Irish descent, not Dutch).  A rich cast of characters and chaos revolve around these two, but they are the focus. Were these two siblings fortunate or unfortunate in their lives? No spoilers here. That may be up to the reader to decide. Good things happen to them as well as bad. They were born into wealth as evidenced by the grand Dutch house of the title, where they lived. The house in Pennsylvania, was built by a rich Dutch family who had eventually fallen on hard times. After the last of the Dutch family had died, Danny’s father was able to acquire the house at a ridiculously low price. He was proud of his acquisition, bu...

  Last week I reviewed Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It stirred up memories from my childhood when I, like the characters in the book, was hooked on horror movies. I may have mentioned this before, but I was a bit of a nerd as a kid. One of the ways this nerdom expressed itself was in the watching of old sci-fi or horror films. Not the newer ones with blood and gore splashed all over the screen, but we are talking about the films of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and even some of the 60’s. Frankenstein , the Wolfman , The Mummy , Godzilla , the Hammer films, etal. Every Saturday night at 11:30, I would watch a broadcast from Portland called Sinister Cinema . There you would find such classic old movies, along with not-so-classic movies, some of which were so bad that they were good. The show was hosted by Victor Ives, with an assist from a character named Ravenscroft who never spoke but looked like some sort of Igor inspired thing. Also, there was a character called Head, who w...

  What got me first was the cover: bright red with silver letters disclosing terrified eyes. Then there was the title:  Silver Nitrate . I was intrigued. Then I saw that the author was Silvia Moreno-Garcia and that sealed the deal. I had to buy it. I have read a couple of books by her: Mexican Gothic , and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau , both of which I enjoyed. I guess you would classify these books as horror, but I would not call them really frightening reads, more like disturbing with a side of horror, yet with well-developed characters and plot. Is there such a genre as “literary horror?” Probably. There is a genre for just about everything. But that is how I think of her books, sort of high-class horror. Silver nitrate was a type of movie film that was the standard until the 1950’s when safety film was introduced. Silver nitrate film was a superior product in many ways giving vivid projections to the screen. Unfortunately, silver nitrate film was extremely flammable and...

  I think it is a fallacy that to be a writer, you have to be an interesting person. After all, they always tell you: ‘write what you know.’ If all you have known is a boring life, how can you write about that? Who would want to read it? I have been doing this blog for six years now. While I do not fool myself that this is the New Yorker , I am reasonably pleased with the work I have done. Though I write it mainly for me, it has gotten some notice. This blog seems to be particularly popular in Hong Kong for some reason. I say all this because I am not an interesting person. Well, I am as interesting as the next guy, but I mean I am not especially interesting. I have not discovered any scientific breakthroughs, ridden a rocket to space, joined the Peace Corps to help people in some dark corner of the world. I have never been in the military, not a doctor, nor ridden the Deadliest Catch ice waves of Alaska. On the other hand, I have not had my city bombed or suffered unspeakable t...

  You sometimes hear people musing about the changes they have seen in their lifetimes. I know that in the scope of my life I have seen quite a few. When I was a child there was no internet, no cell phones. If you wanted to contact someone far away, you had to write them a letter, or, if it was urgent use a land line phone to make a long-distance call or a telegram. Both were discouraged because they cost money. For electronic entertainment we had radio and television. The television where I lived only had two channels until I was almost a teenager. Even so, many parents were worried that TV was rotting our brains. There was nothing akin to social media. You just hung out with your friends. Music has seen a lot of changes. No instant gratification in my childhood. If you wanted to hear a particular song and you didn’t own the record, you have to sit by your transistor radio tuned to your favorite station and wait for hours for them to get around to your song. I speak from experienc...