Insecure Monday Musings

Don't get me wrong.

There's a lot to be thankful for.  Very much so.  I'm blessed with a loving, healthy family.  We have friends, comfortable jobs, supportive relatives, a wonderful church.  God has been good to us in many ways.

Benjamin is part of a One Act team that won Regional, and will be going to State this Saturday.

The Michigan Wolverines are 8-0 and are having one of their best years ever.

Alison and I celebrate 20 years of marriage November 9th.

There are many, many good things that fill my heart with joy.

And yet.....

Being in one place for more years than I've been anywhere, getting close to the same group of people, you experience more of the unfortunate consequences of life.  We have friends who have experienced death, friends who are facing sicknesses and in some cases terminal illnesses, friends fighting poverty and incredible odds,  friends struggling with many things.  Time doesn't stay constant.  There is always change, for good or ill.

My work, which has been a stable element in my life, are planning some substantial moves that could upend my own planning.  It is unclear what those changes might be, if any.  But whatever it is, it makes work more insecure and anxious.

I continue to have serious doubts about being able to make enough money at the things I love to do in order  to be able to move towards the next phase of my life.  I don't need to make a lot, but even the little I need to make seems elusive.  That's been a consistent story of my whole life. If it's something I love to do, I seem to be wretchedly incapable of making money at it.  Part of it may be lack of talent.  But it's mostly lack of marketing and promotional skills.  I think.  It's speculatory.

The most depressing thing bringing me down is the realization that.....

DEMOCRACY IS TOAST.

Hopefully it's just a mood, but I don't see how we get out of this election with our democracy intact. This is not a fear that Clinton and Trump are equally bad.  No, I refuse to indulge in that false equivalency.  Trump is the most unsuited and dangerous candidate in American History.  Voting for him is a rejection of everything that this country is supposed to stand for.  It is a vote for an authoritarian clown, one whose instability and thin skin will lead us into disaster after disaster.  He's a reality star, for God's sake, and not a very good one.

Clinton has the background and experience to be a good President.  She can make informed decisions.  Whether they're ones you agree with may be a different story, but at least I am assured they will be within the realm of the pragmatic,

The problem if Clinton wins is not Clinton.  It's that many of the supporters of the other major party have decided it is better to obstruct and bring all of democracy doen rather than work together to make this a better country for all.

The Senate threatens to not give a vote to anyone Clinton nominates for Supreme Court.  EVER.  They will let the Supreme Court wither away rather than replace those who leave the bench.  One branch of government wants to hold another branch of government hostage until they control a third branch of government,

The House threatens to hold impeachment hearings on Clinton even before she takes office.  They have concluded that their supporters would rather use the Congress to do this than get anything done.

The Trump people are threatening protest and violence and "second amendment remedies" if Trump doesn't win.  They would rather burn America down than accept an election result.  We're behaving worse than a third world banana republic.

I try to be at least a long term optimist.  But my faith is being stretched to the limit.  I'm really beginning to question how we get out of this one.

I can't see it anymore.

And that has me very insecure this Monday morning.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Let Me See if Strait Can Get This Straight

Let me see if I can get this straight.

The sentiment on social media is that enough is enough.  People are tired of politics dominating their social media feeds, and are ready to call it a day.  And this sentiment is coming from all across the political spectrum.

It's not a completely invalid sentiment.  This has been a rough election cycle, with Trump in particular pulling the rhetoric as low as it can go. There has been little discussion of issues, and mostly just personal trashings, of both candidates and their supporters.

So y'all want to take a break from politics and go back to pictures of food and tales of children and grandchildren?

Yes.  Please.  Let's talk about those things and all the things that bind us.  Let's please do that.  We're all a part of a great mass of humanity that needs to do more celebrating and dancing together.

But stop talking about politics?

Let this Strait tell it to you straight -

Nahhh.  Not gonna happen.

How can I stop talking about it when the Senate Republicans have gone to the unprecedented step of indicating that they may block all Supreme Court nominees for the entire time Hillary Clinton is President?  How do I back off when one branch of government is willing to hold hostage another branch of government until they control yet a third branch of government?  You want me to surrender political discussion while someone discusses letting the Supreme Court whither away if they don't get their way?

How can I stop talking about politics when the House Republicans have made a commitment to spend most of their energy into investigating and plotting the impeachment of a President that hasn't even been elected yet?

How can I cease civic discussion when one of the candidates is stating fairly clearly that they may not accept the results of the election if he loses?  Why should I stay silent in the face of the violence and unrest he is deliberately fomenting?  To poll watchers inspired to intimidate, to raising doubts about the results before they're even counted, to implying the viability of "second amendment solutions", you really want me to ignore all this?

Whoever wins any particular office, the issues remain the same.  We must do something about climate change.  We have to reverse the growing income gap.  We have to stay internationally engaged through intelligent diplomacy, fair trade deals and the judicious use of military force (when absolutely necessary).  We have to provide decent health care to every single citizen, without exception.

And I have no intention of staying silent about it.  Not now.  Not ever.

Deal.

Ripping Good Yarns: Best of the New

What is the best of the new Fall television season?  I haven't sampled everything, but there are more than usual that have made a good impression on me (and/or Alison).

I DVRed Queen Sugar for Alison, but she told me to stop after she saw the first episode.  Aftermath has an interesting premise, but some truly horrible acting and dialogue.  The Exorcist has moments, but there are also moments in it where I fall asleep (not a good sign).  Van Helsing is entertaining, but at a Grade B level.  Is AHS: A Roanoke Nightmare considered new since it is a new story?  Whatever it is, it is a cut above the last couple of seasons, with a much more coherent story.

I forgot to include comedies in this, but if I did, it would be won hands down by The Good Place, a very funny and imaginative comedy.

5)  Pitch.  I've only seen two episodes so far, but it has been outstanding.  I've even brought Alison into it.  Our third episode got lost due to the storm, and we'll need to go to Hulu to catch it.

4)  Designated Survivor.  A rare political drama whose plot lines don't make my head spin.  As extreme as it's base premise is, the political interactions are real enough for me to accept.  And it is a delight to see Keifer Sutherland in a role where his first instincts aren't to torture and beat the crap out of people.

3) This Is Us.  Yes, it's true.  I baled after the first episode.  But Alison loves it, and it is the highest rated new show since Empire.  And who can argue with that?

2) Westworld.  It's not really fair.  HBO can do some much more than broadcast TV or even basic cable.  But they have successfully taken a fairly cheesy 70s movie/book and turned into something amazing.

1) Timeless.  I love it!  A great scifi adventure series with good characters, dialogue and plotting.  And most importantly, it's not afraid to CHANGE things, and without going into to time paradox conniption fits like Stephen King's 11/22/63 where it spends most of it's time telling you how you can't change time.  This show just DOES IT!  Bravo!

Untrapped Weekend and Other Monday Musings

I keep on doing these mini-tests to see how retirement might be like.  And this is, of course, retirement from accounting, not from working or doing things altogether.

I have more vacation days than I've had (went from 12 days to 15 a year) and I've tried to take advantage of them, even though we haven't had the resources to go many places (saving for a big trip next June).  This means staycations, or as I've called them, writecations. Right now, I've been off since Thursday and don't go back until tomorrow.

How do I like it?  Well....it's like...thank you, may I please have another?

Someone my age told me they couldn't retire because they wouldn't know what to do with themselves.  I said I thought I could figure it out.  They then said, "Well, you've got all those 'hobbies'."

Hobbies?  Hobbies?  The things I loved to do were reduced to mere hobbies?  Like I'm a three year old delighting in making mud-pies?

Am I struggling to make money off the things I love doing?  Yes, I am.  But that doesn't mean I would call them mere hobbies.  I'll figure it out.  Whatever it takes, I'll figure it out.

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Speaking of that, I've got a new load of History of the Trap books to sell locally or at events. I went to our church's bazaar and sold no new copies.  I did sell a few other things, including a new religious collection, but not the novel.  Some people took my card and said they would order it on Kindle.  If they do, I should be able to tell, as my sales for both the book and the eshorts have plummeted to goose eggs.

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Other than preparing and presenting at the Bazaar, I've spent most of my "hobby" time re-editing Crowley Stories.  I did my own editing (and extensive reformatting), and another edit thanks to Cristina Relyea, a friend from the Writer's guild who read and commented on the entire book, noting places to correct.

Once the editing is complete, I have to decide what to do with it.  Do I self publish again, or pursue a literary agent?  I don't know.  Crowley Stories is less genre specific than History of the Trap.  I don't know if that makes it easier or harder to locate an agent.

Two years into this stage, and I'm still Hamletting it.

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The Michigan Wolverines are now ranked No. 2 in the country!  Ahead of them is my work compatriot's perennial poll leader - Alabama Red Tide (is that their name? - I forget what they're called).  Should make for an interesting season.

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The Walking Dead left us shattered and sad.  I think it hit Alison harder.  I had made an educated guess as to what was going to happen, and so was less shocked when it did.  One of the characters that was taken out by Lucille, surprise or not, was not something I wanted to see, as that character seemed to be almost more a core of the show than the lead.  Where's a good dumpster when you need it?

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We saw the One Act that Benjamin was assisting with.  It's a great team effort, and I wish them well in the Region and, if they win that, the State as well.

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Our OHC writing contest entries are now in the hands of the judges.  We had 59 entries this year, which I believe is a record.  Woohoo!

Until next time,

T. M .Strait

Revisiting Can A Christian be a Fill in the Blank

It's raised quite a dilemma in my thinking.  The dissonance of it clangs hard against me, and it makes me feel like I may be a hypocrite.  Yet I can't get my head around it.

Can you be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump?

Every fiber of my being, every synapse of my brain, every breath of my moral conscience, screams of the impossibility of it.

I have never seen a candidate whose personal conduct was so far removed from what a Christian should be.  His whole fortune (whatever it really is - something that is in great dispute) was built on the exploitation of others.  No, it's not the only way you can get rich, but it is the way he did.

Every time in his early career when he got himself in fiscal trouble, his wealthy father baled him out, sometimes in ways that violated law (purchasing casino chips at one of his casinos).  He's gone bankrupt repeatedly.  Now you can consider them smart business moves, but they are not Christian business moves, as bankruptcies relieves of your obligations to others and hurts them to benefit you. In fact, even outside of bankruptcy, he has constantly stiffed contractors that worked for him.  And the smaller, more vulnerable contractor you were, the more likely he was to stiff you, as he had less fear in your ability to retaliate.

He created whole businesses, like Trump University, that were scams designed to defraud consumers of their money.

These are not small things.  The most frequent sin mentioned in the bible is that of usury, which is not just high rates of interest, but exploiting the weak, the poor and powerless for your own benefit.

He is also a misogynist, a self-confessed sexual predator.  This is not just about the many women now reporting his bad behavior.  Who knows?  It's possible that some may be lying or exaggerating.   But the pattern is deeply troubling.  And the conduct is in keeping with his own rhetoric.

He is a racist who appeals to our darkest fears.  He turns 'love your neighbor' on its head.  He wants to build a wall to symbolically divide us, starting his run for the Presidency by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers (this is when any decent person should have crossed his name off as someone they could have voted for, but alas, it did not happen).  He wants to ban a whole religion from coming into the country.  He calls inner cities hell holes, and warns you that their residents are going to vote multiple times.  He lives and thrives on hatred, fear and division.  Us against them - how further removed from Jesus can you get?

He wants to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that will leave tens of millions with NOTHING.  We return to bankruptcy and no access and insurance and healthcare costs rampaging without check.  In my opinion, it is fundamental to Christianity that when one of us lacks decent healthcare, WE ALL LACK DECENT HEALTHCARE.

He wants to turn his back on the earth, deny our climate problems and accelerating global warming, and double down on those energy resources that are contributing so mightily to the problem.  Are we not supposed to be good stewards of the planet?

What is the thin reed that some "Christians" hang onto to justify their vote for this offensive authoritarian narcissist?  I'm honestly not 100% sure.  The best I can tell, other than the primitive appeal to a controlling father figure, is the Supreme Court.

And what is it about the Supreme Court that these "Christians" want?  Do they want a Supreme Court that will defend the poor and side with them over the concerns of the wealthy and corporations?  A Supreme Court that will extend civil rights and voting rights?

No.  That's not what they want.  They want a Supreme Court that will turn back the hands of time and re-establish male dominance.  They convolute bible quotes to justify codifying hatred of gays and women.  They want to eliminate the possibility of gay marriage.  And most  importantly, they want to eliminate Roe v. Wade, and accelerate some states to criminalizing women and their doctors.

The rhetoric about abortion in our country has more to do with controlling women than it has to do with being pro-life.  Don't get me wrong.  I really, really don't like abortion.  I wish it didn't exist. But I have no desire to jail women and their doctors.

Over and over, it is shown that abortions are reduced most rapidly by improving the economic conditions of women, by increasing the availability of birth control, and by providing a complete and well-rounded sex education.

The concept of late term abortions sounds horrifying, and the fabricated story that Trump told at the last debate was frightening.  But it's a fairy tale.  Virtually all late term abortions occur because of some terrible, threatening medical condition.  What does that say about your opinion of women if you believe otherwise?  How many women do you think would be that cavalier and cruel?

Banning abortion will not eliminate it.  It will only drive it underground and make it more dangerous.

Donald Trump, the misogynist, someone who almost certainly is responsible for leading some of his "companions" to abortion, is your defender on this issue.  Let me tell you a secret - he doesn't care a whit about this.  He barely knows how to talk about it, and is just using you as a way to access the power of the Presidency.  He might give you what you want.  He might not.  It's really not very important to him.


After all this, can you be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump?  It's not impossible.  Sometimes the camel does go through the eye of the needle.

But can you vote for Donald Trump and say it is BECAUSE you are a Christian?

No.  No, you can't.  You can't do that.

Rig THIS! Saturday Political Soap Box 144

Donald Trump has finally jumped the shark,  Oh, I know.  It seems like that occurs every few days. But his core supporters keep coming back.

By the time you read this, he may have backed off.  But it is too late.  He has stated he might not accept the results of our election and refuse to do what every losing candidate has done in Presidential election  history - graciously concede and acknowledge working with the winner for the betterment of the country, even it is as loyal opposition.

And no, Al Gore did not do the same thing.  The initial Florida recount was done automatically, as is required of their state's election when they are within a certain margin.  The various anomalies that occurred prompted the Florida Supreme Court to requires some counties do an additional recount.  Did the Gore campaign support these legal efforts?  Of course they did!  And when the Supreme Court intervened and stopped the recounts, heartbroken as Al Gore was, he immediately conceded the election, and in a very gracious and supportive way.

Al Gore ended his campaign when the proper legal challenges were closed.  He did not fuss or whine.  He most certainly didn't hint three weeks before the election that the results were going to be rigged and he wouldn't accept them unless he won.  2000 was a tough election, and there were anomalies (as they are with most elections), but it was conducted within the rules of the game.

We must work within these rules, even they are sometimes flawed, or we descend into the madness of a third world dictatorship, with constant coups and the potential for violence.

Donald Trump is very wrong and beyond the pale of accepted political discourse for this great republic of ours.

That does not mean there are not problems with our electoral process.  But they are not the unproven voter fraud that Donald Trump fear-mongers about.  And although there is media bias, there is also, thanks to the Internet, some of the most varied media sources we've ever had.  The problem with the media is not the rigging, it's that we tend to only absorb our own preferred media and ignore all others.  We listen, read and watch primarily those sources that confirm our own opinions and biases.


What are some of the real problems with our electoral process?


GERRYMANDERING:  Our legislative districts are carved out not by geographic logic, but by the need to preserve incumbents and create permanent majorities for the party creating the districts.  The result is fewer and fewer competitive districts, and many where in the general election there is only one candidate running. They create districts that are more conservative or more liberal than the country as a whole.

LACK OF CIVIC KNOWLEDGE:  There are fewer and fewer of us who have the basic civic knowledge to become participating members of a democratic republic.  We know less and less about how government works, what our constitution really means, and how to recognize when someone is talking outside the parameters of our American system.  More and more of us only pay attention superficially and thereby make superficial decisions.   They are made by inattentive conservatives when they are distracted by authoritarian rhetoric,  They are made by progressives when they flip from Bernie Sanders to the Libertarian Gary Johnson, completely disregarding the fact that they are complete political opposites.

UNLIMITED MONEY.  The system is warped when corporations, the wealthy and other special interests can give unlimited amounts of money to candidates or their super pacs.  We have moved from one man - one vote, to one million bucks - one bought politician.

FOREIGN INFLUENCES.  When other countries weigh heavily into our elections, whether by bribery or hacking or any other means, we need to be very worried.

Let's not burn the house down.  Let's instead renovate and spruce it up, and keep it being the envy of the entire world.

The Fall That Refuses to Fall

Isn't it special?  We are almost four weeks into Fall and today's high will be 88.  I repeat.  88.  And the South Georgia natives wonder why I don't call it Fall yet.  Fall is supposed to be more than just a date on a calendar.  It's supposed to be a crisp catch in the air, foliage changing color, A & W Root Beer from the drive-in, fresh apple cider from the cider mill, breaking out jackets and seeing your breath at Friday night football games.  It's not about not being able to go outside to walk because the gnats are so thick, and still having to worry about heat stroke.

We are about six weeks into football season, and most of the great rivalry games are still to come. The Wolverines play Michigan State not this Saturday but next.  The Spartans are not what they were, but you always need to be your best when faced with an in-state rival.  It's exciting to see Michigan in contention for a playoff spot, but even with a good team, I'm aware everything has to break just right. One loss could take them out of it.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  Multiple SEC teams could make the national playoffs with a loss.  Other conferences?  Eh, not so much.


In a day less than three weeks, our long national political nightmare will reach a new phase.  We won't have the godawful campaign anymore, but we will have to start dealing with it's terrible aftermath.  Drumpf is likely to lose, either with a loss similar to McCain's or Romney's, or as close to a fifty state loss as modern politics can come.  He is ginning up his minions not to accept the results of the election.  I truly fear what consequences this horrible behavior will have.  One plot to kill people the day after the election has already been revealed and foiled.  Hopefully, there will be no more, or we will discover and stop them.

We are also in the surreal situation where some Republican Senators have said they won't approve Hillary's Supreme Court choices.  So instead of holding the Supreme Court hostage  for the last year of a Democrat's Presidency, they now will try to do it for another four years.  How can anyone put up with that nonsense?

In about two and a half weeks, we will have the writer presentation for the 3rd Annual Okefenokee Writer's Contest.  I'm very happy to report that we've had a record number of entries, in both adult and student categories.  There will also be a very special award that afternoon, so mark your calendars - Sunday afternoon, November 6th at 2:30.

A few days after that event, Alison and I will celebrate our 20 year anniversary.  It's been fantastic, and we continue to grow closer every day, as we enjoy this walk through life together.  She still makes me feel like one of the luckiest son of a gun's on the planet.

The Bill Clinton Problem: Saturday Political Soap Box 143

Yep,  Bill Clinton is a problem.

He's a problem because of his moral behavior.  His previous misdeeds are making it difficult to make a clear conversation about Donald Trump's truly unprecedented horrendous behavior.

At the time, I remember thinking...you know, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he resigned and Al Gore became President.  I had and have a deep respect and admiration for Al Gore, the man who won the Presidential popular vote in 2000.  Being President would have given him a clear leg up in the next election.  Maybe enough that the Supreme Court wouldn't have coronated second place finisher George W Bush Jr.   We would've checked global warming.  We wouldn't have blown the surplus.  We wouldn't have had 9/11 nor the Iraq War.  We probably could have kept the economy together enough to have prevented the economic collapse of 2008.

But that wasn't to be.  Bill Clinton hung in there and rightfully fought off impeachment charges (they were moral charges, not constitutional ones).

At the time, Bill's behavior was considered boorish, not as a sexual predator.  Standards change.  Twenty years earlier, we probably would have known nothing about his behavior.  The number of Presidents who've had affairs are legion, and range across both parties.  They've even had them while being President.  Really, compared to some of the things past Presidents have done, his indulgences seem more kinda cheap, sleazy and relatively minor.

So why do we even know about them?  Shifting media standards was a small part of it.  A bigger part was the failed Whitewater investigation.  They couldn't turn up anything to prosecute the hated Clinton's for, but Ken Starr stumbled across some sex stuff and decided, what the hell, let's go after him for this.

The whole effect of this backfired on the Republicans.  Bill wound up more popular, not less. People sniffed out the basic unfairness and hypocrisy of this.  It was made clearer over time when one Speaker of the House was having multiple affairs, the next one nominated had to withdraw because of affairs, and the saint finally picked, since retired, is now convicted of sexual predatory behavior with underage boys.

Times have changed again, and a review of Bill's behavior could be seen as mildly sexually predatory.  At least in the sense that he had a power relationship with some of them.

So now we have a true, vicious, amoral sexual predator running for President, and some low-information voters are muting the criticism of Trump by upping the volume on Bill's past.  The bottom line for me is that Bill Clinton was a despicable horn-dog, but he liked women.  His activity is more suggestive of a cheater than a predator.  Like it or not, cheating is abundant in our society, and it is none of our business to delve into individual marriages and see how that is handled.

Hillary and Bill were able to work through their problems and remain together.  Somehow, that's seen as a weakness by Republican fanatics.  It's beyond me how.  I admire her for holding her family together.  I thought that's what we were hoping people would do.

Donald Trump is a monstrous sexual predator.  That's not my words.  Those are his own.  The alt-right is stunned when women come out and claim that he has done the very thing  HE HAS CLAIMED THAT HE HAS DONE.

Bill's behavior was disgusting.  Donald's behavior is evil.

Donald's attempts to lay the blame for this at Hillary's feet is sexist and amoral, and shows clearly, beyond any measure of doubt, what he really thinks of women.  The wife is not to blame for the husband's sexual indiscretions. They have to work that out on their own.

Bill is also a problem because of the legislative compromises in his second term.  Welfare reform, NAFTA, and particular abolishing Glass-Steagall, all seem like pretty poor decisions in the light of current times.  In some ways, I am upset by this.  In others, you have to understand how far to the right Reagan had shifted the base of the American populace.  Triangulating seemed to be the only way to survive.  The biggest, ugliest curse anyone could say to someone was to call them "LIBERAL" (and said as a sixteen syllable word and an intense snarling sneer).

It's only been recently that terms like liberal, progressive and democratic socialist have become acceptable again (thanx and big hat's tip to the bravest politician of our times, Bernie Sanders).  You kinda wish that Bill had more courage, but maybe that's the best he could do at that time.

Am I thrilled that the Clinton's are most likely returning to the White House? Not particularly.  But compared to the world ending event of the narcissistic authoritarian racist sex predator Donald Drumpf?  Let me grab him by the ballot and help make Hillary the President of the United States.

Or, as the woman in the cartoon below says....

Hurricane Matthew's Distant Embrace

It looked like it was coming close.  It was our second week of performing Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and we didn't know how many performances we'd actually get to do.  By Thursday, Hurricane Matthew looked on track to hit landfall in central or north Florida at as high as a Category Four.

On anticipation of its horrible arrival, we cancelled Friday's performance, but went ahead with Thursday's.  That night the crowd was light, which was disappointing, because prior to the approaching storm we were on track to set attendance records for a non-musical.

As I was backstage Thursday night, I monitored the storm with my weather app (our modern cell phones give us the power of the universe at our fingertips, and are used mostly to watch pet videos and to find out what our friends had for dinner), and saw that Hurricane Matthews was moving closer instead of further away.  Where I live, there have been a number of dire warnings about approaching hurricanes that for the most part wound up missing us.  This one felt different.

But it wasn't.  Updated forecasts from early Friday morning had it turning more to sea.  We still didn't know for sure what we might be in for.  It was a Category Three and it still could effect us.  We had seen the huge crowd of vehicles jam our highways as coastal residents fled.

There was considerable devastation in the coastal areas.  St. Augustine in Florida seemed to be particularly hard hit.  There was damage from Florida to North Carolina, and there was some loss of life.  It was bad, but it could have been so much worse had it turned just thirty miles or so to the west.

This was late in the year to get a storm of this intensity and endurance.  They say the waters, particularly in the Caribbean and off Florida, were much warmer than normal. Unfortunately, "warmer than normal"  appears to be the new normal.  We may have to get used to this more often.  I shudder to think what one might be like if it gets super-charged in the Gulf of Mexico again.

At our own place, we had the usual downing of tree limbs.  We have an oak tree that can shed limbs in five mile an hour winds, so thirty five miles an hour can really shake it up.

We experienced a power loss hat lasted fifteen hours, which I think was the longest stretch I've experienced.  It was fun to play cards by candlelight, and thankfully, I had a fully charged Kindle. Sleeping without the usual fans going was difficult enough, but hearing the winds and occasional limb crashings, sometimes banging hard against our metal roof, made rest impossible.

When we finally got power back Saturday afternoon, I was pleased to see that the storm had not been as devastating as feared. My friends and neighbors had come through well.  We even had our final play performance that night.  The only thing I had to be cautious about was that there was a part of the play where my character falls asleep in a chair, and then leaps up with a warning.  I cautioned the cast - tonight, with all my sleep loss, I might go under for real. Fortunately for everyone, I woke up in time to hear my cue.

Another near miss.  But we must not always assume that will be the case.  The next one might not turn.  And with the super-heated waters of the Gulf and Atlantic Ocean, I'm afraid the number of times we need to worry will be increasing.

Stay vigilant, my friends.

Edging Towards Crowley Completion

Good news!

I've had two people recently complete reading Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge!

Alison had been reading it for several months, and the storm weekend gave her the opportunity to finish it. She liked it, but reading over such a period of time, she lost track of some of the characters.  There are many, and they don't all appear in very story.  So I may add a brief character bible at the end, that describes the character in a couple sentences, and then lists their major appearances in different stories.

A friend from the Writer's Guild, Christina Relyea read a prototype copy of the book, and gave me some great notes, which I hope to go through next weekend.  She also liked it, and remembered some of the characters better than I did (it's been awhile since I've written in the series).

My main editor, Rose Aldridge, is still reviewing individual stories.  She did such a fantastic job with History of the Trap, and I'm looking forward to getting her input.

Anyone who is familiar with my blog can read individual stories by following the label Crowley Stories.  I would appreciate any input you could provide.

The second edit version of this has been complete for some time.  But finally, I see it edging towards completion.  I still have to decide whether to seek a literary agent or just publish.  I'm undecided.  I like self-publishing, but I am unclear as to how to solve the riddle of getting noticed on Amazon.  I like the control one has in self-publishing, but I don't like the self-promotion/huckstering aspect of it.

Unlike History of the Trap, I am not wedded to the title Crowley Stories:Swamp's Edge.  If anyone familiar with the stories has another suggestion, I would be glad to consider it.

It's been a long haul, and sometimes it's hard to get focused, but I finally have this book in my radar again, and I'm excited about getting a second book published.

Wish me luck.

Indigenous Monday Musings

The cast of And Then There Were None. In the back are Rem Farr as Justice Wargrave, Jody Rollins as William Blore, Michael Lee as Narrocott, Nicolas Horne as Phillip Lombard, Gideon Goree as Anthony Marston, Isaiah Ricks as Mr. Rogers.  Seated are Karla Smith as Emily Brent, Sarah Elizabeth Watson as Vera Claythorne, and Brittany Peacock as Dr. Edna Armstrong.  Missing are Melissa Kresel as Mrs. Rogers, and some other guy whose name escapes me.

And Then There Were No More Performances.

The play has ended.  For once, I am fighting the usual feelings of letdown by taking the Monday after the play off.  Well, at least off work.  I still have a lot of writing to do today.

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Taking Indigenous People's day off is quite rare.  Our festival of deadlines continues at work, this time the individual income tax deadline (for those who have extended out this far).  I wanted to be off with family today, and I did it.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll be bold enough to take Martin Luther King's Day off in January, something I have not done in over two decades.

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I think I did a good job in the play.  It was a small part, but I did the best I could.  It's hard to adjust to the new era of everybody being miked, and have people speaking their lines very softly.  I'm trying, but I'm used to emoting very loudly.  Frankly, as hard as I try not to, I'm still feeling the effects of not getting casted in The Beverly Hillbillies.  This part helped, but it did not restore the confidence I used to have.  Although I do see some actors my age still performing, they are a distinct minority, and some of the older parts are even going to younger actors.  It's in my blood, though.  It's too much of who I am.  I don't want to embarrass myself, but I don't know that I can give it up.

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Surprisingly, it was a four star football weekend, with Michigan, Georgia, Atlanta and Detroit all winning,  I was pretty sure the Wolverines would be Rutgers, but I though they would win as dominantly as Ohio State did against Rutgers, winning 58 to 0.  Who wins games by those kind of margins.  Well, I guess Michigan does too, beating Rutgers an astounding 78 to 0!  Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year!

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We survived Hurricane Matthew.  It turned a bit more out to sea, until a weakened storm finally was pulled in by the Carolina magnet.  We had a good number of downed limbs, and we lost power for over 15 hours, but we all survived well.  Benjamin learned to play rummy, and I learned that my night vision isn't what it was.

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It's hard to take someone seriously who still supports Donald Trump.  His most recent round of revelations, about his sexually assaultive language towards women, was beyond the pale.  This man shouldn't be hired to tend fries at McDonald's much less be President of the United States.

His debate performance was pathetic, lurching and sniffling around the stage, pouring out lies and National Enquirer level attacks against his opponent.  He threatened t o jail her if he won,  Our descent to third world  banana republic will be complete if he wins.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Matthew: The Weather October Surprise

Hurricane Matthew: Skull Edition

Yowza!  Yowza!  We've had many close brushes with hurricanes since I've been living here, but nothing that amounted to much more than a few tree limbs lost, and some short term power outages.

But this Matthew fella?  It don't look so good.

I'm still hoping it curves more out to sea, but recent forecast maps have it actually turning more this way.  some are even showing it hitting Florida's coast at a Category Four, and possibly coming close to us at Category Two.

Tomorrow (Friday) looks to be the crucial day where I live.  We've had the local high school football game moved from Friday to Thursday, and then cancelled altogether (at least moved to next week).  Benjamin has no school Friday, but he never did - it was a scheduled day off for students anyways.  Alison, who works at the school board, may have to work - we're still waiting for word on that.  I don't normally work on Fridays, but I don't know whether my work friends will have to.

I've also seen some tracking that, after it brushes the coast, that it could go out to sea...AND THEN LOOP BACK.

It's already set records for length and intensity for the month of October.  Unusual, eh?  Maybe not so unusual anymore.  The waters are warmer this time of year than they have been historically, but historic norm now, aren't they?

Climate change is no longer a theoretical thing for our future.  Global warming is already affecting us NOW.

We have not prepared with an overt accumulation of supplies.  We did not go on a bread and milk run.  I have not personally seen how empty the stores are, although I have heard others talk about it. We do have some crackers and cereal, and a bit of bottled water.  We got batteries for our flashlights, and a bunch of candles (some of them kinda scenty, which may or mat not be a good thing).


Friday's high here is projected to be 78.  It's a shame we have to have a hurricane brush by just to get a temperature below 80.  Fall in the South...what are you gonna do?

Although, as things change, more and more of y'all may have to get used to it.  Y'now, from that thing that is actually happening that some of you STILL think is a hoax.

All my prayers and thoughts to Haiti and Cuba and the Bahamas, and to those places that will be affected by the storm in the days to come.

May God give us the strength to endure, and to love and support each other.

The Unpleasant Election

It seems to happen every time.

People complain and whine about their choices.  Is this the best we get to choose from?  Why do I have to pick the lesser of two evils?  How come neither of these represent what I feel?

Many times it's from people who don't participate in the primary process.  Often these are people who pay little attention to politic most of the year.  A disdain for the political is considered by many to be the "socially correct" stance.  In some social settings admitting that you like politics can be as off-putting and frowned upon as if you admitted you admired serial killers.

Most of the time I reject such talk.  If they would pay at least a little attention during the rest of the year, and vote in the primaries, and in general act like they were at least half aware that they are supposed to be a part of an informed, participating citizenry, I might have more respect for their concerns.

There are ugly, brutal flaws in the system.  The choice is most often narrowed down to two, and two people can hardly represent the diversity of interests that people have.  Money from rich interests floods the system and controls the candidates. Negative ads deluge the airwaves and social media.  The candidates mislead and obfuscate, and some outright lie.

It's not easy, but I am mostly unsympathetic to those who fuss and put their nose in the air.

Until this election.

This election takes the cake.  And, frankly, if so many of you hadn't have cried wolf so much in the past, the whining would have more impact.

The reason I have more sympathy this year is because true conservatives really have no standard bearer this year.  You have a thin-skinned authoritarian wannabe whose politics are all over the map, certainly not anyone who represents core conservative principles. Although corporate Republicans have won the nomination previous to this, they were still closer to what many conservatives wanted than they presently have to put up with,  And nobody, of any political stripe, can be happy with this man's boorish and insulting behavior.

So conservatives look at this election and see their choice being between the repulsive Trump, who often betrays what they hold dear, and the eternally hated and reviled Hillary Clinton, someone who their media of choice has spent decades convincing them that she is Satan on Earth.

So no wonder they're lost and bitter, posting meme after meme about how running even a ham sandwich would be better than the choice they have.  

Well, my conservative friends, I only have one thing to say -

Welcome to the club.

We progressives have had to take a back seat in our party almost from the beginning.  I have watched time and time again the candidate I prefer go down in flames in the primary, as the more corporate Democrat won over and over again.  The only time my preferred primary candidate won is with President Obama.  Yes, he's also kind of a corporate Democrat, but he also represented many of the policy goals I hold dear.  Otherwise, I could list candidate after candidate who fell short of the nomination.

Bernie Sanders was a very exciting candidate for me.  Unfortunately, he became a dream deferred, not a dream realized.

But I did not pick up my marbles and go home.  I'm used to elections where I have to pick my fifth choice, or my tenth, or in the case of this election, my ninety-ninth.  It's not always pleasant, but I'm used to it, and I don't waste a lot of time complaining about.

As much as democracy has lost in recent years, we still hold tremendous power in this country.  We can change things if we want to.  We can join movements that support change.  We can reverse Citizens United and get big money out of politics.  We can demand the end to gerrymandered congressional districts.  We can participate more in the primary process.  And we can seek out change that stops restricting and instead encourages voter participation.

We can become more of what our founding fathers were asking us to do, and that is become an informed citizenry.  Stop pretending politics doesn't exist except for a few weeks before our quadrennial Presidential election.  Stop saying you hate negative ads, and then quote from them when explaining to your friends your political decisions. Stop voting because one candidate looks better on television than the other.

Yes, this election is unpleasant.  But we can't check out of the process.  We have to double down in our engagement of it.  And maybe the next election (that would be 2018 - if you wait until 2020 you've already made your first mistake) will be better.

I have to believe that.  I have to, because I believe in America and for the democratic republic for which it stands, its dream of a more fair and just society.

Won't you join me?

Can't Get Used to Sitting Anywhere Else Tuesday Tidbits

My character in the play, And Then There Were None, has a definite seat preference.  It's about where he sits at the club he lives at, and he feels most comfortable in that place at the island lodge he's visiting.

We all have our own positions and postures where we feel most secure and comfortable.  We all have times when we just want to get into our own personal box and just stay there.

Y'know, there's probably a larger point that I'm trying to make here, but I'll have to develop that later. The early morning fog has not yet lifted from my brain.  I just feel fortunate I can find the keys to type this out.

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My dog Ellie has made a spectacular recovery and is herself again.  We still need to be careful about her movements, and in particular not let her jump onto or off of things.  We also have a back brace she can wear, so she can look like a stock clerk at Home Depot.

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The Michigan Wolverines had an important win against Wisconsin.  They showed they could compete against a first-class offense.  However, a national title will continue to elude the Wolverines unless they find a quality FIELD GOAL KICKER.  When they play Ohio State, they can't miss any opportunity to score.

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I really, really expected the Detroit Lions to be better this year.  If the Cubs win the World Series, that will make the Lions about the longest suffering team in professional sports.  Will I stop being a Lions fan?  Hell, no!  My team come hell or high water!  Although, I must say, the view from the fiery pits is getting a bit old.

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I watched the new show Timeless last night, and I was very pleased.  Time travel shows are always problematic, as they turn into long lectures about how you can't change things (for example, Stephen King's 11/22/63).  It's early, but this show does not appear to have that problem.  I am ready to strap in and see where it goes.

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I hope all my writer friends, young and old alike, are gearing up for the Okefenokee Heritage Center's writing contest.  We want your entry!  Remember, there are cash prizes!

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The election.  What can I say?  Trump has the worst week in Presidential campaign history, and in the Huffpost Poll of Polls, it boosts Hillary from 4 points up...to 5.  Oy, I am so scared!  I just shake my head in worry and fear.  Hillary may not be the prize in the Cracker Jack box, but she is so far ahead of Trump, there is no logical comparison.

Elizabeth Warren should have run.

Maybe next time.  Unless Trump becomes the last President we ever have.