I’ve just finished The Dave Test: A Raw Look at Real Faith in Hard Times, by Frederick W. Schmidt. Dr. Schmidt is an Episcopal priest and professor; the Dave in the title was his brother, who died of brain cancer. The book is only 153 pages long, but it punches far above its weight class….
The cow must die
March 3, 2014
This is a sad video, but it isn’t graphic. And it makes a broader point, so please watch it. “Awww, ya dumb fucker.” No, the cow doesn’t deserve its fate, but the engineer did all he could. The cow had the entire world to stand in. For whatever reason it chose to position itself on…
Beware what you wish for
February 18, 2014
I was once forced into a family dispute among people I neither knew nor liked. It started when I saw a young woman sitting on the porch of a house, waiting. The elderly man who lived there was a friend of my mother’s, so I approached and asked if there was anything wrong. My parents…
The ruin of souls
January 11, 2014
The person I’m going to make famous has compelled me to disclose far more about myself than I wanted. But I’ve spoken to Tim and Eric, and I have their blessings. Some things will be neither confirmed nor denied. But now I’m going to reveal things solely for the purpose of helping you understand the…
Slapstick
January 7, 2014
Kurt Vonnegut’s sister died of cancer. The day before her death, her husband was killed in a train accident. When she was told, she laughed and said, “Slapstick!” I’ve just discovered that I’ve been mercilessly scammed for months. The scammers targeted someone who’s housebound with an incurable illness that’s getting worse. Not only that, they…
Why we had to kill Charles Darwin
December 29, 2013
I’ve had unbelievably strange dreams. Volume Three of the Ghosts Trilogy—Hallucinabulia: the Dream Diary of an Unintended Solitarian—will be available next month, I think. It’ll show you the mess inside my head. As I say in my sales pitch, Volume One is how my life was, Volume Two is how I wish it had been,…
Noreen in the Rat Palace
December 5, 2013
I’ve received several queries about Noreen in the Rat Palace. One came from Scott Thunes. So I’ll tell the story. First, an explanation: Ghosts and Ballyhoo is an art project. It isn’t a memoir per se. Everything in it is true, but I wrote it in order to elicit a certain reaction among readers. I…
A very bad man, part one
December 1, 2013
We live in a golden age of flim-flammery. A lot of you reading this are depressed and aghast at what you see; my parents were too. They couldn’t believe how the world had changed since they were born. So to give you a sense of proportion, I’ll tell the story of the most merciless, predatory,…