My brother Pat Wictor is a folksinger. Yesterday he called from the road in New York, and we had a two-hour conversation about our father Edward, who died on February 23, 2013. Ed was a mystery to us. He was the most secretive person I’ve ever known. In fact he scared me my whole life…
Some perspective from a Third Worlder
December 5, 2014
I like living in the United States. It’s a great privilege. However, too many of my fellow Americans are idiots. The current fad is to march and protest because police kill black men. No other people count, which proves that the marchers and protestors are acting in bad faith. They don’t actually care about police…
Happy Birthday, Dad
June 14, 2014
Happy birthday, Dad. You would’ve been eighty-five today. Since you died, I’ve been on a quest to find out who you were. You wrote three memoirs, two of which you had duplicated and distributed among your children. For some reason you didn’t give us the third one, even though you finished it in 2009….
I hate my neighborhood
May 26, 2014
There was a time when I didn’t hate my neighborhood. Back when I moved here in 1993, it wasn’t a bad place. What happened was that all the old people died and young monstrosities moved in. Now I can’t wait to leave. The main reason I want to leave is that everyone here is a…
The truth will set you free, but—
May 19, 2014
Like almost everything, there’s a caveat. The truth will set you free, but only if you can take it. I don’t begrudge anyone their desire to spare themselves terrible knowledge. We’re under no obligation to know the truth. That’s different from lying. Here’s how I look at it: The truth is behind a closed door….
The armored man
November 9, 2013
One of my favorite films is John Frankenheimer’s Seconds. It’s been called the most depressing movie ever made. I disagree. It’s a cautionary tale. The movie is about a secret company that allows disaffected middle-aged men to fake their deaths and start over. For a fee the company gives the men plastic surgery, sets them…