A Broken Attempt to Start Flash Fiction Friday

He turned the corner.  She was there.

Wait.  That's like stage directions.  I'm not sure I'm supposed to do that.

"Dave!  Is that you?"

"Uhhh, yeah, Merlinda.  What are you doing in this neck of the city?"

Wait.  That's all dialogue.  I don't think I'm supposed to do that either.  And neck of the city?  

Oh, my God!  It's Merlinda!  What is she doing over here?  I haven't seen her since the bad sushi disaster!

Wait!  What?  Is first person ok?  I can't remember!

There she was, dressed like a sea cucumber freshly escaped from a boxcar.  I felt like a melted pogo stick on a hot playground.

Wait!  Is that like mixed metaphors or something?  

He saw her.  He did not want to.  He walked by, pretending he didn't see her.

Wait!  You're not Hemingway!  Your terse-like is more turd-like.

It was just a chance meeting, but it caused all the memories to flood back.  Like that cold winter's night when they first met during a snowball fight at Yale.  He was a member of the Alpha Omega Fraternity, and she was a new initiate into the Kappa Frappa Sorority.

(This goes on for thirty seven pages of reminisces until they finally say hello to each other.  By the twelfth chapter, they have moved on to lunch).

Wait!  What?  Right or wrong, the double hockey sticks am I gonna do that!  And Kappa FRAPPA? What was I thinking?

I'll tell you what I was thinking - 


19 more days of tax season and I get my brain back!!!

Oh, The Places We'll Go!

An amazing little library I found in Pasadena, California about two years ago. 

Oh, the places you'll go!

I've always loved libraries.  Spending time with collections of books is in my blood.

My Dad, the high school principal, would take me up to work with him on Saturdays and I would happily spend time in the school library, by myself, alone, roaming through the collected adventures of mankind.  Books of mythology, of history and adventure, of fact and fiction.  I could traverse the whole world in just a few hours.

The most frequently recurring dream I have is that there is a secret stairway in the closet of my home, and that it leads to a large underground library. where I happily roam the stacks until I awake.

In college, I loved exploring the huge multi-floored libraries of the University of Michigan.  I would try to study my assigned school work, but often the pageantry of books would be too much, and my attention would wander.

Later, I was accepted into the School of Library Science at Emory University, but life took me on a different course. I often wonder what things would have been like had I stuck with it.

On a trip to Pasadena, California, to visit with my film editor son, Greg, I saw near the sidewalk of a residential area, a decorated wooden box  labeled "Little Free Library."  Insides it's clear door were books that people were swapping - leave a book, pick a book - expressing the communal joy of reading and sharing.

But that was a California idea, too fancy and artsy for the likes of Georgia.

Or so I thought.

 

Lo and behold!  We now have a Little Library box in Blackshear City Park!  A beautiful box, near the children's playground, soon to be stuffed with wonderful adventures to be shared and loved!

This Little Library is courtesy of the efforts, among others, of the Friends of the Library, and to my late friend, David Rollison.

I am so grateful for their efforts.  It helps confirm that Blackshear is indeed a very special town.  And I will always think fondly of David when I see it.

Tax season has kept me from many things, but soon I will have to visit. and pick up a book or two, and leave a couple for others.

Oh, yes!  The places we'll go!

Thank you, Friends of the Library.

Thank you, David.

I believe this is Sandra Deal-  the Governor's wife, Sara Rollison  (I know that one for sure) and Stephanie Bell,  I will come back and correct if I am wrong.

The Diary of Anne Frank Starting April 7th!

Emily Beck is back as the title character in "The Diary of Anne Frank", coming to the . Okefenokee Heritage Center April 7, 8 and 9. Tickets now available! All seats $10, groups welcome! Times are Friday and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m.

Please come out and see this show.  I can't think of a more important theater production to take in right now.

Many of the original cast members are back.  I am playing Anne's father, Otto Frank.  Returning cast members include Barbara Griffin as Edith Frank, Amara Grace Jeffords as Margot Frank, and Julianna Lacefield as Mrs. Van Daan.

I am very proud to announce that my son, Benjamin Strait, will be playing Peter Van Daan.

It's time.  Time to experience first rate theater with a message.

We should never forget.

And we should never let it happen again.

Not to the Jews.

Not to the Muslims.

Not to the undocumented.

Not to the immigrant.

Not to the LGBT community.

Not to anyone. 

Collectively Conned and Other Monday Musings

Benjamin's big moment in the Super Smash Brothers tournament.

Saturday Benjamin and I went to Collective Con in Jacksonville, a convention themed around Science fiction and fantasy TV/movies/comics,  The two major guests were to be two of the young actors from Stranger Things, including the girl that played Eleven.  Both were not there on Saturday, for various reasons.  I'm not much of a celebrity meeter anyways - the intros seem artificial, and I am major league flunker of small talk.

Benjamin had the most fun in the video game room, preparing to participate in a Super Smash Brothers tournament,  His actual tourney was very short, losing in the second round, but he did get to meet and bond with a lot of fellow players. Thank God he's better socially than I am.

I think if I go to more of those I would prefer to have a table and be selling my book(s).  Benjamin could come with me, and help a little, but mostly do more stuff and be more social than me.

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Surprise!  TrumpNoCare went down in flames.  The Republicans couldn't decide between their factions that thought they were being too cruel, and those who felt like they weren't being cruel enough. As a consequences, the much maligned and assaulted Obamacare still stands.  For now. Conservatives in Congress and the administration will still do their best to cripple it.  And when they do, it will be interesting to see if the American people blame Obamacare, or the Republicans who are sabotaging it so it doesn't work. 

Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders is introducing single-payer Medicare For All to the Congress.  There is the true solution, and I think what we will inevitably adopt.  The question is how much suffering and angst will there be until we get there?

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Tax season is at an uncomfortable stage.  It's not so much about the time, it's about the nature of the work.  Individual returns are always a bit more difficult for me than corporate.  But here we are, and I've just got to barrel through it.

Hard to psych myself up for it.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Questions for my Conservative Friends

I am trying to prepare an important statement about health care, and I really need input from my conservative friends.

This is difficult to do.  Many have unfriended or ufollowed me.  Some refuse to talk politics with me, as they feel that all that has been "done with".

Also, other than my blog posts, I gave up, for Lent,  sharing political memes or commentary on Facebook.

I'm skeptical of  receiving any answers, but if any of you struggle through to this point, I would love to hear from you.

Here goes:

1) Do you believe that everyone, from our poorest to our wealthiest, must have health insurance?  That society and health care is too important, and medical costs far too high, to leave anyone out?

2)  Do you believe that no one should die because of lack of finances, and that preventative medicine should be available to all?

3)  Do you believe that insurance should be affordable, and that no individual should go bankrupt due to health care costs?

The above were derived from an article by Dr. Michael F Weinberg, MD.  They are the first two steps of his "12 Steps to Make America's Health Care Great Again".  The other steps are not important unless we can agree on these first two steps.

4)  CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates that 24 million will lose health care as the result of the America Health Care Act.  Are you okay with that, or does it bother you?


5)  So you say you hate Obamacare but you're vague on its replacement?  What is it you really want to do?  If Congress is not proposing what you want, what is it you really want?  Don't just complain!  Be specific as to what YOU think repeal and replace Obamacare means, and what it is you really want to see.

I await your response.

Thank you,

T. M. Strait

Midweek Wednesday Wanderings

Now deep in the cave of tax season.

Wait.  What?

Midweek Wednesday Wanderings?  Isn't that a bit redundant?  Can you have a Wednesday Wanderings that isn't also midweek?

What can I say?

The soulless crush of tax season is rapidly dwindling away my imaginary impulses.  By the end, I may only be able to get in and out of the car as I further drown my creative juices in the waterfall of tax calculations.

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JAWS

Pixie

Oh, Pixie.  A few nights ago, Alison brought me Pixie, out chihuahua mix, holding back tears.  Pixie's mouth was open, and she seemed unable to close it.  We felt the side of her face, and feared that she had managed to dislocate her jaw.  She wasn't whimpering, but there was saliva dripping from her mouth and tears were forming in her eye.  She called the vet, and could not get a hold of him.   We looked online.  I found a vet hotline you could call, and while Alison was trying to contact that, I took another look at Pixie.  There was something big and black in her mouth.  Could it be part of her fallen jaw?  I got a flashlight and found that she had a large object wedged in her mouth.  Her jaw wasn't broken.  She had shoved into her mouth a large piece of mulch from the back yard.  We got it out and she hung her head in shame.  Pixie, now  renamed Mulchmouth.


THE FBI!!!

We now have a President under investigation by the FBI for criminal activity, and the name ain't Hilary Clinton.  It's our narcissistic bully-in-chief, Donald J Trump.  Most of the people around where I live are still in denial, but it's getting harder and harder to do that with a straight face.

I haven't said much about the Russian interference scandal because the story is so fast moving, you tend to be writing behind the current reporting of the horrendous and treasonous facts in this case.
But, believe me bigly, this is getting worse every day for the Trump administration.  

The electoral college has selected a dangerous and mentally unstable con man, but it appears increasingly likely that they elected one who has sold out American interests to the highest bidder.


TAX SEASON DRAG TIME

I try to comfort myself with the fact that tax season is now three quarters complete.  But it does no good as the tax returns, which are now mostly individuals, get more complicated and convoluted.  I am not an income tax specialist (most small firm CPAs are generalists, and not specialists), so I have to use more resources and brain power to get through them.  I can get through them, but they require more brain power. Did I say brain power?  Am I repeating myself?

And since I am not particularly swimming in brain power, that leaves less for other things.

I long to get back to my fiction writing again.

I have projects lined up like cord wood.

At least, I think I do.  Even they are beginning to fade.

Would you like fries with that tax return, sir?

Return to the Dragon

The talented cast of Growing Up is Hard to Do with their dedicated Director, Katy Haag Rogers.

It had been awhile.  Benjamin had moved on to other acting venues, and even my good friend Kimberly Beck and her daughters, Emily and Elizabeth, were moving on.  I had forgotten the importance of children's theater in a community, and the vital contribution the Flying Dragon Arts Center was making to it.

But I took an opportunity to go to a show this Sunday afternoon.  Alison and Benjamin were going to Jacksonville to see a science show form emceed by the guy from VSauce and a Mythbuster, and Tamara Jeffords, the theater co-founder, was kind enough to invite me to the show.

In a children's theater, not every child is at the same level of experience or performance.  But all striving, all are learning, all are gaining in confidence.  And their development is truly wonderful to see.

Sierra Baker and Marin Jeffords  singing a show highlight, I don't Want to Grow Up.  Please forgive my feeble photography.

It was a delight to see such young veterans as Marin Jeffords, Rihanna Herrin, and Emma Varnes continue to grow and mature in their talents.  I have watched Marin since she was a toddler, and she has shone brighter and brighter with each successive performance.

Another young talent, Sierra Baker, was perhaps the most adept young reader I've ever seen, telling a charming David Sedaris story.

The young emcees/comedians of the show.  They showed an amazing ability to charm and enthrall an audience.

Sometimes you see some very young talents who show an amazing ability to connect with their audience.  Such is the case with the comedy duo,  Lex Baker and Mason Rogers.  Their schtick between scenes, part jokes and part improv, showed a budding instinct to draw in the crowd, and make them laugh and smile.  It will be interesting to see how those talents develop over the next few years.

Kudos to Katy Haag Rogers, the dedicated Director of the show, and all the parents and friends of the theater that helped with this production.

The Flying Dragon Arts Center is truly a jewel in the area, one that deserves your support.  Please contribute, and come out to their next production!

What a Strange and Terrifying Trip We're On: Saturday Political Soap Box 160

Here's your only choices.  Either he's going deaf and didn't hear the requests to shake hands, or he's incredibly rude.

Where are we on this strange and terrifying trip on the (gag) Trump administration train?

It's hard to know where to begin, as the train has left the normal tracks of democracy and veered off into hitherto unknown lands, lands filled with multiple dangers and pitfalls, side journeys that have you either shaking in fear, or reviling in disgust.

His tweets are more than absurd distractions.  They are vile and atrocious lies, and they hurt and harm.  Accusing a former President of wiretapping and being a bad/sad person?  Even most Republicans are disgusted by that one.  No President has treated an ex-President this way, especially without proof.  He gave no thought to the consequences of what he said.

He'll attack the independence of the judiciary.  He'll unsettle corporations and cause their stock to go up or down.  He'll viciously attack private citizens, from celebrities like Schwarzenegger to Gold Star parents. He doesn't care who he hurts.  And those who continue to support him show that they don't care either.

Virtually every contact he has had with foreign leaders has gone awry.  The above meeting with Germany's leader. Angela Merkel, was as about an uncomfortable meeting as I've ever seen. Germany has a more tolerant, humane view of refugees, and that is more than the hateful, intolerant Trump can put up with.  Under Trump, we are becoming the world's villain.  There's no other way to put it.

It infuriates me to see some Republicans, like Paul Ryan, absolutely giddy over the prospect of 24 million people losing healthcare coverage.  Their harsh, stupid bill, is not likely to pass, but it is eye-opening to see that their is a solid group in the House who think the bill is not cruel enough, and want to see us draw further back into the lack-of-coverage medical abyss.  Meanwhile, Trump is oblivious. He has no idea how our healthcare system works.  He just wants to "repeal Obamcare" at any cost, and then TRUMPet its replacement as superior, regardless of what it actually does or how many people it hurts.


The new Muslim Ban is in as much trouble as the first, because you can still smell Trump's bigotry and intolerance all over it.  There's no way to get that stink off.

The proposed budget is the most callous and cruelty streaked budget ever.  Any program that benefits the poor and much of the middle class has been slashed or eliminated altogether.  Meals on Wheels eliminated?  Really?  Let's solve our massive debt problem by attacking the equivalent of rounding errors.

The EPA is being gutted.  For those of you in the local area concerned about the Waycross Cancer Cluster, or the coal ash in Wayne County, or anyone who gives a rip about the contamination of water in places like Flint - SURPRISE!  Your vote for Trump has told me that you really don't give a rip.

The gravest crisis the world faces, climate change, is no longer going to get any financial support - no research, no scientific data, no alternative energy.  Nothing.  The number of deaths this will cause is incalculable.

Education funding is demolished, EXCEPT for additional spending on creating private school alternatives.  Our country is founded upon on strong public schools.  By degrading them, we are destroying a basic pillar of democracy, and creating a huge blow to diversity and tolerance.

I could go on and on, every area a travesty, but I will point out one more, one that portends horrible things for our near future.  The State Department budget is being slashed, primarily in humanitarian areas and in diplomatic outreach.  It's going to turn less into a department promoting peaceful cooperation and human rights, and detour into one that will become a tool of corporate interests. Selecting Rex Tillerson, chairman of Exxon as State Department Secretary is no mistake.  It shows the nightmarish direction we are going.

Meanwhile, the defense department is skyrocketing.  We are replacing the diplomacy of the State Department with the threat of military power.  Even Trump's budget director says they are deliberately emphasizing hard power over soft power.

Make no mistake about it.  This so-called isolationist, this Amerika Firster, is heading us into war.  As a father of a 16 year old. I am angry and worried.

For those of you who think this is about bringing the debt into line, think again.  Deficits will still be massive.  Eliminating yet even more taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, along with increases in defense spending and idiotic things like THE WALL, will insure us of that.

No, this is only about cruelty, about a philosophy that hates the poor and disadvantaged, that believes government has no place in helping them.  This would be true even if we were running surpluses.  It's the Ryanesque Ayn Randian philosophy that matters, not the state of US treasury receipts.


Our strange and terrifying trip on the Trump train is just beginning, and there are not enough barf bags in the world to get me through it.

Resist.  Protest.  Vote.

We may not be able to stop the train, but we can slow it.  And pray every day that more and people wake up and go, "Wait!  Where the hell are we going?  I didn't mean for us to go HERE!"

Themeless on a Thursday

Oy.

That's me.  Choking on a Thursday.

Usually by today, I've had a topic brewing and I can just spin it out in the thirty to forty-five minutes I have to write.

Not so this morning.

It's been a rough week, with work and theater and the loss of a dear friend.  March 15th was a major tax deadline for me, as I do a number of corporate and partnership returns that are due that day.

On the bright side, the play I'm working on, The Diary of Anne Frank. is one that my son Benjamin is in as well, in the crucial role of Peter Van Daan.  I love the opportunity to perform with Benjamin. To me, that creates some of my most treasured memories of theater.

The picture above is from a play we were in a couple of years ago, A Christmas Carol.  I played one of my favoritest parts, Scrooge, and Benjamin played multiple small roles.  It was a wonderful experience.

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I missed WACT's Hairspray.  I should've made a greater effort to see it, but time sort of spun away from me.  If anyone saw my list of favorite musicals, you would know that when WACT first did Hairspray several years ago, I rated it as the best musical I had ever seen.  Chelsea Nelson was ideal as Tracy Turnblad, and so was the entire cast, especially Michelle Lagoueyte as Penny Pingleton. Really, it was as good a community theater production as I had ever seen.


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Yes, I am a television watcher.  I watch an hour or two of scripted TV most evenings.  Briefly, my current favorites include Designated Survivor, Legion, The Americans, The Waking Dead and Supergirl.

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Yes.  I have a lot to say about the horrid "tax cut for the wealthy disguised as a health care plan".  Hopefully. I can mull it over and write something quasi-brilliant by Saturday.  Certainly, the monstrous reaction of Paul Ryan to the idea that his plan may cause 24 million will lose health insurance as a result, is one of the coldest, most repulsive things I've seen.  If you think that many people losing their insurance is a good thing, or just not particularly relevant to you, than you and I have very little in common.

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Double oy.  The clock is pounding hard.  My writing time has evaporated.  I must plunge into the accounting world again.

Another time, perhaps?

Patience.

Soon....THERE WILL BE THEMES!

The Dance Never Stops

David Rollison did the impossible.  He taught a Strait boy to dance.

David and Sarah were there from the beginning.  The last night that I spent as a single person before my marriage to Alison, was with David and Sara Rollison, at their Pond View Inn in Pierce County.  It was a beautiful, large, antebellum home situated in front of a gorgeous pond. They were the first Pierce County residents I had met outside of Alison's family. They greeted me, my parents, and my son, Doug, with food, warmth, and southern hospitality.

And that hospitality never stopped.  They were always friendly and welcoming to my family, both as neighbors and as members of our church.

David was a spirited and loving man, and it was hard on all of us when he was taken from this realm Friday night, with a sudden massive heart attack.  He was doing things he loved, moving a golf cart, laughing and joking with his beloved Sarah, brushing pollen off her backside, when he collapsed, and despite resuscitation efforts, was unable to be saved. 

David was a Navy Captain, and he loved the sea.  The call of the ocean always beckoned him.

He was an accountant, like I am, although he had left that profession aside, later operating the Pond View Inn as owner and chef.

He was an author, of the exciting Mike Kelly espionage thrillers. set mostly in and around St. Simons. His publications of his books was one of the things that helped inspire me to write my book and self-publish it.

He was a leader in our church, Grace Episcopal.  He was our Senior Warden, and was always a positive buzz of activity, welcoming people, taking pictures, assisting with building projects, always with joy and a mischievous grin.  He was the very heart of our church, and will be impossible to replace.

David and Sara

David was so much more than the things that he did.  He was also in a beautiful, loving relationship, with his beloved Sara - his wife, friend, and dance partner.

They did many things together, including running the area's Cotillion organization, which teaches young people to dance and more importantly, how to be respectful and have good manners.  That is where they achieved the impossible and taught my young son, Benjamin to dance.  They also taught him about being polite, and that has served him well, both in his relationships with adults and his peers.  It is often remarked upon how polite he is, and we owe that in large part to David and Sara.


Yes.  It's true.  David's body has been taken from us.  But....

The dance never stops.  The spirit continues on.  His love and kindness lives on through everyone he touched, family and friends alike.

I had hoped when I increased my level of retirement that I would spend more time with David, as a church member, as a neighbor, as part of the Friends of the Library, and as a fellow author.  But that was not to be.  Like others including Steve Bean, John Pharr and Ray Eleazar, all whom I wished to spend more time with, they have instead been taken and David now joins them in Grace's Men's Group, Heavenly Saints division.

But he has taught me this-

The dance never stops.

The spirit continues on.

Every time my son dances, I will see him there, and cherish his place in our lives.

Swiper! Don't Stop Swiping...Our Hearts With Cuteness and Joy!

Swiper is here!  And he's ready to be swiped away to a caring and loving forever home!

Our current furry foster is adoption ready!  He's a beautiful Chihuahua mix with long legs that just won't quit.  His smiling face has fox like features, and he loves to love and be loved.

He is up to date with shots, heart worm free, and housebroken.

Here he is in his sophisticated "dog about tile and rug pose."

Swiper is playful and occasionally high energy, but he also likes to relax and chill.  He loves getting attention and affection and will return it in kind.

He has been getting along well with our own dogs, and is a little skittish about our cat, Skitty.  That's all right.  So am I.

He's ready for his close up, and his new forever home.  If you're looking to provide a wonderful animal a great, loving home. please contact the Okefenokee Humane Society at 912-283-4214.

Let Swiper swipe your heart today!

Our 500 Channel Universe

There is no doubt about it.  We live in a rapidly changing world.

I remember my Grandparents telling me about a time when cars and planes were in their infancy, before commercial air flight, and before the mass produced automobiles advented by the Model T. And it was certainly a time before television was even dreamed of.

In my own time, I've gone from the TV being fixed on the only station it could get, to moving where we could get three stations (three! - count 'em - three), to the explosion of channels that could be obtained by cable, to the plethora afforded by satellite, to the almost infinite choices brought about by the Internet and streaming.

It's only been recently that we've been able to make programs start at our convenience, with the rapid succession of the VCR, then the DVD player, to the miracle of the DVR, to finally the streaming services that allows us to call up whatever we want, whenever we want.

We're not limited to television sets anymore, being able to watch programs on our computer desktop, or on a laptop, or a tablet device, or even our phone.

At one time, television shows were "events", and the most popular garnered huge audiences. Everyone gathered by their sets at the same time, and we all thrilled to the same adventure, or laughed at the same comedy, experiencing it together.  It helped make TV a more communal experience.

Now in our super-defuse entertainment universe, it is hard to have that same shared experience. There are fewer and fewer water-cooler shows that we can all share the next day.  We may have seen it, but others have it scheduled for later viewing and beg for no spoilers, and many others may not be interested at all.

The best thing about this new world is the incredible choice it offers, and is a hallmark of the best of how free markets work.  Theoretically, we have all the information in the world at our fingertips.

Unfortunately, we also have all the misinformation as well.  Rather than learn about each other, or reach out for shared experiences, we tend to use these plethora of choices to reinforce what we already believe, to narrow our world instead of broaden it.

It's more than a matter that I choose to watch more science fiction and mystery shows than most, that I gravitate to every time travel and alternate universe story I can find.  It's even more than that some choose to concentrate on voyeurism, reality shows that purport to show how people are in their everyday lives (and then making the grave mistake of voting for one of these reality stars as President of the United States).  It's that we're creating our own news environment that confirms our political, social, and religious biases without letting in counter opinions.  Rather than use the 500 channel universe to broaden us, we use it to narrow our world.


I love having so many choices.  It is, to me, the best of democracy and the free markets.  I hate the way some of us are using it.

It would be nice to have some uniting events, something beyond the Super Bowl and a handful of major sporting events, beyond the major tragedies like 9/11, something besides a viral video of a cat doing something funny, or a human doing something stupid.

Although I don't miss the days of only three channels, I do miss the unity of experience that it afforded.  I miss not only the shared entertainment experiences, but more importantly, the common civic base of knowledge it gave us.

I miss Walter Cronkite.

Whirling Swirling Wednesday Wanderings

Another wandering Wednesday.

I have topics.  I swear.

I just can't form them in the midst of the swirl of tax season.

I am fomenting.  I am just not fruitioning yet.

I'm swirling an idea about the 500 channel universe we live in, and about it's effects, both good and bad.

I have dozens of topics relating to the Trumpocalypse, more than some of my less politically minded readers want to see, but not enough to convey all the anger, terror and rage I feel that this narcissistic bully toddler has been left in charge of the nuclear codes.

Being that healthcare, and decent access to healthcare, has been  major concern of mine, I have a lot to say about the Republican's desire to move from Obamacare to TrumpNoCare.  No one knows the exact shape this plan will take, or even if they can ever pass it.  But it won't be good, and it will be a major step in the wrong direction.  So expect many, many more posts about this disaster-in-waiting.

I so desperately want to get back to fiction and creative writing.  But under the pressures of tax season, it is one of the first things to go.  I want to get to My Europa.  I want to work on the prologue rewrite to History of the Trap.  I want to do so many things, and it is frustrating not to be able to focus enough to do them.

It's hard to think of tax season dwindling when it still has more than a month to go, and it still doesn't feel closer to being over.  Not yet.

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 Alison and I attended an evening of music and skits put on by Benjamin's musical theater class.  Benjamin played a more dramatic role than he had before, and did an excellent job.  Benjamin is quite the performer, and I'm very proud of him.

For those interested, he and I will be in play together this April, The Diary of Anne Frank, where I play Mr. Frank and Benjamin plays Peter.

The scary thing is, we are not far off from this play being a horrifyingly plausible glimpse of the future, simply replacing the Jewish families at the core of it with Muslim families.  I wish I was joking about this, but I fear that we are laying the groundwork for it to happen again.

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Well, that's about it.  Thank you to my most loyal readers, the ones who even attempt to slog through these theme-less wanderings.

Give me about 40 days, a Lenten length wilderness wandering, and then maybe the whirling swirl will clear a bit more.

Overshadowed Monday Musings

Yes, it was a fairly nice weekend.

It was overshadowed by the dark nature of political events. but it was a nice weekend with family.

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We spent it at home for the most part, enjoying family time.  Alison and I did get out to see a movie, and we went to church activities Sunday morning.

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We saw the movie Get Out Saturday (not Logan yet - we're running about a week behind).  It was about as good a comedy/horror social commentary I've seen, at least up there with Young Frankenstein and They Live.  A strong riff off of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. the young male protagonist of the movie finds himself in increasing danger, as he finds his girlfriend's parents to be a substantially greeter threat than say, Robert DeNiro in the Meet the Parents movies.

We saw it with a mixed crowd, both whites and blacks, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  One African-American woman proclaimed at the end of the movie, "I like y'all white people, but if I come to you house and you have one of those (major plot point in the film) in your house, I am getting out!"  An older white lady said to her daughter who took her, "That was weird. But it was better than TV."

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Our classic movie of the week was The Maltese Falcon.  Surprisingly, neither Alison and I had ever seen it.  It was interesting, but not as riveting as I had hoped.  Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade was a definitely well-pronounced character.  This will sound sacrilegious, but I didn't always appreciate his portrayal.  He might have been a tad too cold and flat for me.  I enjoyed him a lot more in The African Queen.

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On Thursday, Alison went, with a high school girlfriend, to a Rick Springfield  concert in Jacksonville, an old idol of hers.  She came home happy but bruised, from trying to get over some chairs in order to shake hands with him.  I try not to ask any questions.

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Meanwhile, I got subs from a new place in town, Larry's Giant Subs.  I give them an A for menu (literally dozens and dozens of sandwiches to choose from), a B for taste (they were slightly bigger, 8 inches instead of 6, but they were flat rather than thick), and an F for following directions.  They put mayo on Benjamin's sandwich, which he hates and I told them not to do, and he wound up having to throw part of it away because he could not scrape it all off.


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Everything was overshadowed by the unhinged behavior of our electoral college winner, Trump.  His Breitbart-fueled delusion that Obama had wire tapped Trump Towers was embarrassing and scary.  He has boxed himself in where there are no good answers.  He has taken the word of extreme right-wing media over all other sources.  He's President, for God's sake.  He has all the word's information at his fingertips, and he chooses to believe Breitbart, radio extremist Mark Levine, and the ditzy hosts of Fox & Friends.

He has gone past the stage of "dangerous" and "unstable", and is now at the stage of "it's time to put Grandpa in the home, before he hurts himself and others".

God help us all.

Journey to La La Land: Saturday Political Soapbox 159

To quote Charlie from Lost:  Guys...where ARE we?


Where are we indeed?

Things that shouldn't be happening keep happening.  Events unravel in ways that even our most gifted fiction writers couldn't come up with.  Victories are snatched away.  Events congeal for the most unlikely of victories.

Hillary, on her way to clear victory, winning a decisive margin in the popular vote, narrowly loses three rust belt states, and we find ourselves staring into the abyss of the unthinkable -  a narcissistic toddler-man now possesses the nuclear codes.

The Atlanta Falcons have a commanding lead in the Super Bowl, only to see it miraculously frittered away in the last minutes.  Every play has to break just right for the New England Patriots to mount their unexpected (and for me, undesired) comeback.  Instead of the Super Bowl victory going to a young, up-and-coming team, it goes to the same ol' same ol', a team that has had a reputation in the past for cheating.

I have no opinion on the merits of La La Land versus Moonlight, but it was terribly embarrassing and unexpected.  Even though the La LA Land people were gracious and understanding, it had to be deeply humiliating and disquieting to think for a minute that you had won, start your victory speeches, and then see it all be snatched away.


So where in hell are we that these things keep happening?


Some scientists have speculated that we are actually in a computer simulation and not reality.  That sounds ridiculous, but they are actually serious about it, and when you hear their logic behind it, it at least seems remotely plausible.  We are rapidly increasing our ability to create visual reality, immersing ourselves into it to an unprecedented degree.  How far away can direct mental implants be?

If so, then something has gone haywire with the simulation we are stuck in.  The staid computer programmers have been replaced by Mr. Mxyzptlk, the impish other dimensional foe of Superman, who capriciously alters reality just for the heck of it, just to watch Superman and friends squirm. Some young genius slacker/hacker who just wants to play out unlikely scenarios and see how we react.

Then there is theory of parallel/multiple/infinite universes, that actually has some basis in physics. That there are an infinite variety of universes, and that as individual decisions are made, they spin off into a different reality.  In this conception, there is a universe where JFK was not shot, or where the Cuban missile crisis went nuclear. or the Germans won World War II, and on and on.  Or there could just be a universe where Uncle Charlie actually did buy "that" lottery ticket.


DC Comics has a version of this where there are alternate Earths where the advent of the superhero age played out different on each one.  The main characters that were started in comic's Silver Age (primarily the 60s) are Earth One.  The original heroes that arose in the World War Two era are from Earth Two.  There are many more, including one where the primary hero is a rabbit known as Captain Carrot.  The universe without super-heroes, our universe, is known as Earth Prime.

Marvel Comics has something similar, but there number system is wilder. Earth 616 and even Earth 200508.  They may even combine letters and numbers, like Universe XK483.

My theory is that we are no longer on Earth Prime, if we ever were.  But along about the time of Trump's announcement that he was running for President, we began to slip somewhere else, and that by the time of the election, we were clearly somewhere else,

We are no longer on Earth Prime.

We have entered a deeper, darker alternate universe.

Welcome to Alternate Earth #wtf666.

Superman was able to defeat Mr. Mxyzptlk if he could get him to say his name backwards.  Maybe we cam get the small-handed fascist to say "Pmurt!"  Or someone could run up to him and say "Trumplestiltskin!" three times.

It's worth a shot.

After all, nothing else makes sense anymore.  Maybe in this new, strange reality, it would work.

If not, let's click our heels three times.

I want to go back home again.  Earth Prime, I miss ya already.

Your Special Dose of Hairspray Is Waiting For YOU!

WACT does it again!

Hairspray, the best musical I have ever seen from community theatre, is back in Waycross with another stellar cast and crew!

When I first saw this at WACT a number of years ago, I was floored.  The cast was breathtaking, the music swept you away, and the story was relevant and compelling.

What better way to celebrate the best of our times, but with a story of tolerance and diversity, of being accepted and celebrated for being who and what we are,

Get your tickets soon!  Shows of this quality and caliber sell out quickly!

Wednesday Wanderings Lenten Style

And so another Lenten season begins.

Once again, it comes during tax season.  Funny how that always happens.

Still, I must find a way to give it focus.  Some years I succeed.  Some years I don't.

First is the devotional aspect.  Attending church and increased devotional readings are important. One year, I started a daily reading of the bible, from the beginning, and I just kept reading until the end (end times Revelation style!).  Other years I have started other devotionals or books on religious topics.  But that has been difficult to do as the mornings I used to devote to it are now taken up with writing, and although I could change the nature of what I write, I don't think I could or should give up writing.  Nevertheless, I think I could find a way to sneak in some more devotional reading.

Second is the giving to others aspect.  That is something I definitely need to work on.  I work with Okefenokee Heritage Society, assist with community theater, aid Alison with the Okefenokee Humane Society, give money to the rector's fund.  But I need to do more, and things that directly benefit the poor and disadvantaged.  Political response and advocacy is not enough.

Third is the sacrifice of something.  It could be some combination of food or drink.  I've done that some years.  That's tough to figure out this year, as getting through tax season has me particularly unwilling to give up caffeine, or even cut back more on proteins or sugar.  But I'll keep thinking about it.

Another sacrifice that is becoming more common is to cut back on social media. I've done that before, or tried.  This is a difficult decision to do in the Age of Trump.  More and more I feel like Schindler.  Have I done enough to stand up against the new fascism?  Will I look back at this era with regrets that I did not do enough to stand in opposition to it?

Nevertheless, social media has become quite bleak, and some alteration of how I interact may be warranted.  I'm not quite sure what.  I still will post my Strait Line stories, and my Song of the Day, but I think I will cut back sharing memes and general comments.  Basically, if you want to interact with me, or see my opinions and thoughts, you'll need to see my The Strait Line posts.  If you yourself are cutting back on Social media for Lent, all you have to do is bookmark The Strait Line, and then you won't need Facebook, Twitter or whatever the heck Google One is, in order to connect to my wanderings.  And also my musings, tidbits, autobiographical stories, Saturday Political soap box, family stuff, pets, stories, novel excerpts, poetry and more.  All there by pressing a bookmark! Anyways, I might give that kind of cutting back a try.


As for food, I'm still thinking.  Maybe Brussels sprouts. Well, that might not be fair, considering I NEVER eat Brussels sprouts.

Pancakes, maybe?