Heavyweights’ Lament
Prejudice is irrational, reflecting confusion and pathology in the hater rather than any quality in the hatee. Same with the phobia against obesity, of course, even though despising heavy people remains socially acceptable and even popular.
Fragments
Story ideas, quotes, openings, titles:
– In some dystopian future, it’s legal to trade options on people’s lives.
– “I’d hardly describe myself as a creep. Rather….”
– “Answer Man”: Play takes place in a radio station late at night. DJ hosts weekly show, “The Answer Man” taking callers’ questions, complaints and stories. DJ and engineer laugh at callers off the air, but the stories hit too close to home.
– Doctor who has lost his license (drink? drugs? malpractice?) starts investigating Medicare fraud by nefarious insurance companies and gets way too close to the truth.
– Liberia 1982: Peace Corps volunteer befriends brilliant and ambitious Army sergeant, who foments a violent uprising against the government. Volunteer is implicated.
– “Winter Is Hard”
– Song lyric: “World’s going to hell again, Troubles seem to swell again, Heading down and round again, All because of you.”
– “Prospect Park”: urban halfway house, each chapter is a life story.
– “Diapason” (Greek for octave): Researcher finds 3,000 year-old Greek music text, with many intriguing song fragments illustrating why the ancients thought music was the most profound art. Book hints at author’s life and leads researcher to Greece for further discoveries on the power of music.
Riding the Rails
I When people think of trains they think of speed and mass. But trains come alive first with sound. “Alllllllll aboooooooard!” the conductor sings out. In response the cars jerk and clank into motion. Steel wheels click along and then, as the train picks up speed, rivet the tracks. The horn blows its fierce warning […]
Asides
Occasional and random thoughts about whatever: I leave my dreams as I would leave my friends, with regret. Some say perfection is impossible, the enemy of the good. After all, who or what is perfect? I dunno: Gravity seems to be going strong after a 13-billion year run without an error, since Moment Zero of […]
Asides
Occasional and random thoughts about whatever: I leave my dreams as I would leave my friends, with regret. Some say perfection is impossible, the enemy of the good. After all, who or what is perfect? I dunno: Gravity seems to be going strong after a 13-billion year run without an error, since Moment Zero of […]
Blind Spot
A marlin can’t see the redwood forest. A finch can’t imagine the deep. A sea lion can’t see a hummingbird dance on the edge of a flower. What is it, I wonder, that we cannot see?
Insomniac’s Lament
The night’s always darkest about six hours before dawn, when you can’t sleep.
Dystopia, Of Sorts
The future is here, and it’s turning out a lot like the utopia H. G. Wells predicted: people do what they want, and they don’t get paid for it.
Know It All
He was one of those infuriating people who was right most of the time and thought he was right all the time.
Embarrassed by Founder, City of Evanston Now Claims It is Named for Famed TV Cowgirl
Evanston RoundTable, March 28, 2013
This was my contribution to our annual April Fools’ Day issue. (Leonard F. Slye was Roy Rogers’ real name.) The published story deleted most of the specifics in the fourth and fifth paragraphs to the controversy, which are true.
By Leo F. Slye
With mounting pressure to repudiate John Evans for his role in a notorious Indian massacre years after helping put Evanston on the map, the City Council last week issued a media advisory saying the real namesake of the City was none other than Dale Evans, famed TV cowgirl and wife of the even more famous TV cowboy Roy Rogers.
Ms. Evans, who passed away in 2001, could not be reached for comment, but the advisory pointed out that the actress was also an accomplished, singer, songwriter and best-selling author. From 1951 to 1957 she co-starred with her husband in the TV hit “The Roy Rogers Show.” “As to this other Evans, the one who arrived here in 1855, where is the proof [he also founded the City]?” the advisory asked.
The surprising action was taken shortly after the City Council went into a closed-door emergency session to deliberate, after which white smoke could be seen emanating from the building’s chimney. Neither the Mayor nor any Aldermen could be reached to elaborate on their somewhat-cryptic announcement.