What a day. I woke from a deranged nightmare in which I was teaching the Cardinal Ghost how to make pancakes by screaming the instructions at her. Then I was interviewed by Ali Gharib, who writes for the Nation Institute. After that I learned that a post of mine has caused a famous writer to…
What happens when a missile hits an airliner?
July 18, 2014
Yesterday Russian separatists in the Ukraine shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all 298 people on board. In the comments I read on multiple Websites, readers expressed horror at what the passengers must have experienced. One of the things I try to do is alleviate suffering, so I’d like to explain what happens when…
You don’t speak for me
July 11, 2014
Today I read a long blog post about how “90 percent” of us are furiously jealous of all good fortune that others enjoy. It’s only natural. If someone else is happy, successful, attractive, physically fit, talented, healthy, wealthy, and wise, the overwhelming majority of us wish ill on the person and hope they suffer calamity….
Do you have a price?
July 9, 2014
In the last year of my mother’s life, we talked a lot about the state of the world. Mom was born in 1928. Can you conceive the changes she saw in her eighty-five years? She asked me over and over why people did the things they did, and I told her that it was because…
Thank you, Miss Carol Colman
July 7, 2014
When I wrote Ghosts and Ballyhoo, I had to leave out tons of stuff I wanted to include. There just wasn’t enough room. Also, I’m not interesting enough to publish a multi-volume memoir. One of the bassists who I didn’t mention in the book but who had a huge impact on me is Carol Colman,…
In opposition to the thundering herd
June 29, 2014
Sometimes it’s hard to remain optimistic. It seems like everyone is in a race to the bottom. What I’ve discovered about myself is that the worse people behave, the more import it is for me to stand against the thundering herd. I refuse to adopt the attitude of Charles Oakley, the murderer in Alfred Hitchcock’s…
But what does it say about YOU?
June 24, 2014
Yesterday I changed. Permanently. It’s neither a good nor a bad change. However, it was necessary. I didn’t intend to change; June 23, 2014, was going to be just another day. But something happened that set in motion a whole series of thoughts and conclusions, and by nightfall I was a different person. I would…
Sorry, Becca Pilkington. You made your bed.
June 18, 2014
Today I got a funny message. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the person it was intended to help. I’m in a trough. Oh, I’ll climb out; I always do. But yesterday I realized that the rest of my life is going to be as unpleasant as its been up to now….