Getting Lost in the Mine

It was one of those rare twice-a-year Saturdays.  One where we travel to Jacksonville to load up on books from the Chamblin Bookmine.

It may not be the biggest bookstore on Earth, but it sure feels that way when you are in its rambling corridors.  You see how the aisle gently curves so you cannot see the end of the corridor?  The whole store is like that - a mysterious jumble of corridors and sections, sometimes with combinations and connections you wouldn't expect.  Christianity is near human sexuality, near the juvenile section is Presidential Histories.  You can wander from graphic novels to travel books. 

I have been to two of the bookstores that are bragged about the most as being among the best in the country.  One was the Strand in New York City.  The other was Powell Books in Portland, Oregon.  Both were huge, impressive bookstores.  But both are in more modern, carefully laid out buildings.  They have multiple floors, and special rooms for rare books.  They have attentive staff, and clearly laid out departments for trading and selling books.  The feel fantastic, and I loved being in them.  At Powell's, I was able to give them my book for store credit, so that History of the Trap can be on their shelves for sale!

They're marvelous, but they're not an adventure.  Chamblin Bookmine is an adventure.  It's like a Dungeons & Dragons game for the book lover.  There is always something new and exciting to discover.

They have a wide variety of older books.  I have been slowly collecting some of my favorite authors there - the books don't have to be new or in-print.  They often have both the more popular works, but also the more obscure.  I have been collecting books by H.G. Wells, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Jim Thompson and Margaret Atwood, just to name a few.

If you live near Jacksonville, or are there for any reason, and you love books, please give Chamblin Bookmine a visit.  An adventure awaits you!

Losing the Word Evangelical

Words lose their meaning over time, taking on new connotations and their cultural impact may become redefined.


Here is the word evangelical as defined by Merriam-Webster:

Definition of evangelical

: of, relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels

2: protestant

: emphasizing salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual

: of or relating to the Evangelical Church in Germany

b often capitalized : of, adhering to, or marked by fundamentalism : fundamentalist

c often capitalized : low church

5: marked by militant or crusading zeal : evangelistic

The numbers on the side (2, 5) did not copy over well and are rendered irrelevant.  I would delete them, but that might cause even more formatting issues.

Evangelism does not have to mean spreading the gospel through aggressive moves.  It does not have to mean door-to-door salesmanship, or intimidating questions like, "Do you know where you're going to go when you die?"  It does not have to be an exclusionary club, where those who go through a certain personal conversion are in the club, and everyone else is outside.

It can mean spreading the joyous news of Christ through example, by how one conducts one's own life, and most importantly, by how one treats and helps others.  As our Parish's Reverend Kit says, "We become the hands and feet of Christ."  This is what my father taught me by his example.  Love, kindness, and generosity, are the most powerful conversion tools of them all.

There is also a strain in evangelism that understands the importance of social justice.  Many evangelicals led the way with civil rights for African Americans.  Abolitionism was as much a religious supported movement as it was anything else.  The rallying cry for Social Justice, although now a minority stance in Evangelism, still exists today, and leads the way on human rights issues, taking care of the poor and disadvantaged, and even fighting global warming and the degradation of our planet's environment.

Unfortunately, in current times, the word evangelical has largely been taken hostage by the Christian Right.  They use it as a cudgel to enforce a religious aura to secular politics.  The damage is so deep, that a polling number that haunts me, is that 81% of white evangelists voted for the least Christian candidate of my lifetime, Donald Trump.   A man who embodies selfishness, greed, narcissism, hatred of the other, vilification of minorities, the misogynistic abuse of women.  And people who self-identify as evangelicals voted for him in overwhelming numbers.

I'm not sure how the pollsters concluded who was a white evangelical.  It most likely was a definition that it allowed the person being polled to pick themselves.  In my opinion, that does not make them evangelicals - that makes them abusers of that term.

True evangelicals should not lose heart. Continue your message of love and hope, and things may turn around.  Strive to be the hands and feet of Christ, and make this a better, brighter world.

One of my favorite Aesop's fable centers on the sun and wind betting on who could get a man to remove his jacket.  The wind howled and screamed, buffeting the man all over, but he just clung to his jacket tighter than ever.  The sun came out and gently warmed the Earth, and the man gladly removed his jacket.

Be a true evangelical.  Be the sunshine that lights up the Gospel message.

We could really use that right now.



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Celebrate Valentine's with a Dinner and a Show!

Dinner AND a Show are coming this February to Waycross!

The romantic show, Love Letters, will be performed by Purlie Productions, at TWO different dinner theatres!

The first, on February 10, will be at Grace Episcopal Church, and will feature Tom Strait and Julianna Lacefield.  There will be a nursery provided, giving the perfect dating opportunity for young couples!

The second, on February 17. will be at K.D.'s, and will feature Barbara Griffin and Lamar Deal.  Great food and great acting!

Be sure to treat yourself and catch them BOTH this February!

Recovering Tuesday Tidbits

Our Congress at work!  Of course, Chuck "Charlie" Schumer!  You can trust Mitch "Lucy" McConnell with the Dreamer football!  Of course you can!

Are we recovering at the Strait household?  Well, Benjamin is back at school.  I am trying to be better.  Alison is home form work, trying to get some more sleep.  My yemp is down and my cough is up.  My voice is stripped, but somehow I have to have enough of a voice to learn lines for the paly practice.  Benjamin can go, and I will too if my temp stays down.  How he gets there if I'm sick, I don't know.

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Who to blame the mini-shutdown on?  How about a President who invited Senators Lindsay Graham and Dick Durbin to discuss their BIPARTISAN compromise, and instead shanghaied the meeting with a rooful of immigration hardliners, and started mothing off about s...hole countries?  They say that Trimp's instincts to compromise on the issue are being checked by anti-immigration staff, like John Kelly and Stephen Miller.  Really?  What does that say about how weak and led by the nose Trump is?

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I'm not a jaguar fan, but I was dissapointed that they did not beat the New England Patriots.  Sorry, Jaguars.  Welcome to the Falcon's world!

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We have completed the transition away from Direct TV to Play Station Vue.  No, the service is not as good as Direct TV, but it is pretty neat, and I am paying less than half what I was.  In this post-semi-retirement era, cutting costs is pretty important, even for a TVholic.

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Well.  So much for recovery.  Had to take a break from writing this in order to pick up Benjamin from school.  He lasted about ten minutes before going to the nurse because he wasn't feeling well, so now he is back home, and our recovery is no where near as far along as I thought it was.

I'm tired.  I'll check back later.

Feverish Monday Musings

The flu has come for a visit at the Strait household.

At first, it was Benjamin.  He started to feel ill Friday night.  This was worrying him, because our Saturday plans were to go Atlanta where we would see Doug and Paige, and Alison and Benjamin would see They Might Be Giants in concert.  This was Benjamin's major Christmas present, and he had been looking forward to it for a long time.

But on Saturday morning, he was in the full bloom of it, feeling miserable, with all the flu symptoms, including high fever.   Reluctantly, we canceled the trip.  As his fever showed little improvement, later that afternoon Alison took him to Applecare, a convenient care facility - you know, what we're getting in replacement of doctors, clinics, and hospitals.  I did not go as I was starting to feel poorly - although not as bad as Benjamin.

There were many people there, and they waited a long time, and by the time they saw someone, it was too late to get medicine from a pharmacy.  I guess all-night pharmacies don't exist in Waycross?  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

There has been some improvement in Benjamin, and there are strong hopes he can go to school Tuesday.  They said he needs to be free of fever 12 to 24 hours before going out.

Meanwhile, I am starting to slump more.  I had a rough night last night, getting little sleep, coughing a lot, congestion, fever, etc.  On Sunday morning, I remembered that there were two annual sales taxes that I have done in prior years that I had not done at work.  It's hard to tell with my new work schedule (on call) whether they were mine to do or not, but I didn't want them to be left out.  I sent an email to several work associates. and got a response back from a firm partner that he would take care of them, indeed that he did not want me back to work until I was completely well. His wife has a medical condition that has left her immune system weakened, and didn't want to take chances that he would pick up something and bring it home.  That was very understandable to me.


The last time I had anything like this was the year 2000, at around this time of year.  It was in my first tax season with my current employer.  I kept working, and fever was approaching 103 before I went to a care facility.  They gave me what they called a Z-Pack.  I asked when I could go back to work, so sick, praying for a doctor-mandated break, and what they said was - you can go back to work right away, you're past being contagious.  Wow.  What a difference 18 years makes!  If I was told what Benjamin was told, I might have gone to work for several days!  Oh, well.

A further irony of getting the flu right now is that this is the first year I had ever gotten a flu shot.  Not making any judgements - just sayin'.


Benjamin will not be going to school today, or play practice tonight.  I am home, but I haven't decided on play practice tonight.  But if I'm coughing so much I can't say my lines. that's probably not a good sign.

And then...Alison got up today with a cough and congestion.  I hate to think that's she's going to bully her way through work, but she may be unstoppable.  I'll do what I can to slow her down.  As soon as I get over this coughing fit.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Never Too Late to Learn

No matter how much you think you know, you can still know more.  No matter your age or experience, no matter your intelligence or expertise, there is always something you may have overlooked.

Even though I've enjoyed history and geography all my life, it's only been recently that I've discovered how big a continent Africa really is, seeing maps that demonstrated that the US, China, Western and Eastern Europe all could be contained within its mass!  Even though I'm not bad enough to be on Worst Cooks in America, when watching the show, I'm always surprised by a kitchen utensil that I was unfamiliar with, like who knew there was a mandoline, and that it was a cutting tool and not a musical instrument?  Even though I'm a CPA who has done taxes every year for the last two decades, there are always unique situations I've never run across, where I learn rules and regulations I hadn't considered before (some estimates put the tax codes, including annotations, at around 70,000 pages, and whatever the Republicans did in their recent tax bill, I don't think they made that any shorter).

But what shocked me most recently was in my beloved hobby career, writing. 

I was at a Writer's Guild meeting, with the latest copy of my novel, proud as punch at my self-publishing efforts.  A friend sitting next to me opened it up, and I was ready to be swimming in praise.  Instead, she pointed to the first paragraph (only a whopping two words) and asked, "Why is it there?"

"Why is what where?" I asked.  She was pointing to the left of the two words, just about five spaces to the left.  I was vastly puzzled, but the meeting went on and I wasn't able to figure it out.

Until about a week later, when I realized that what she was wondering was why I indented the first paragraph.  At first, I thought, why in the world would I do that?  Then I looked at some other books that I had, and I discovered that many of them (but not all) did not indent the first paragraph in a series of paragraphs. Paragraphs following the first would be indented, but when a new chapter would start, the first paragraph would not be indented.

It's not like I come to this blindly.  I am an avid reader and have read thousands of books in my life.  I love to hang at libraries and bookstores, and I surround myself with books at home.  How could I not know this?  How did something so basic escape my attention?

My only excuse is that when I read, I'm reading for pleasure and information, not for observing formatting and manuscript presentation.  Reexamining a variety of books from different publishing time periods, I find that it's not universal, but it is more common than not.  Many don't indent the first paragraph of a chapter.  Some don't indent the first paragraph following a space break of paragraphs, even in the middle of chapters, I guess to delineate another scene or a new chain of ideas.  One thing that is done often is to make the first letter of the unindented paragraph extra big. 

This is an example of that.  Yeah, I can tell you won't see that often in a self-published book. That is a pain to do, especially in the word processing program I use.

When writing on the blog, I don't indent any paragraphs.  I don't know if that's right or wrong, but it seems to be fairly common.  It's also how I send my newspaper columns, and they reformat it to their newspaper standards.

Every day, there is more to know.  But don't fear knowledge.  Learning things that are new to you means that you are still growing, open to expanding your world.  No one should be afraid of admitting that you have knowledge gaps, and are able to accommodate and improve.  No one can know everything.

In fact, what you should be afraid of is the person who thinks they already know everything and refuses to learn or change.  Those who already feel like they're the smartest person in the room, and don't need to listen to new information or anything that could cause them to change and adapt.

It's good to know that you are smart.  It's an important trait, though, of being smart to realize that you don't know everything and are capable of learning more.  It's the difference between being smart, and being, like, really smart.

Perdue Chicken Surprise

If it was just Senator Dick Durbin, the above question may have a point...but it's not.  The sources for this story predated Senator Durbin's reaction.  Senator Tim Scott verifies what was said, and that Senator Lindsey Graham was very vocal about his objections within the meeting, even though he has not been as clear outside the meeting (although not denying it either).  Trump was reported to be bragging about and testing what he said to close friends - I think he thought the reaction would actually be positive about it  - which is why he took a day or two to go into his normal super-liar mode.  There are a large number of political figures, Democrat and Republican alike who have spoken out against Trump's horrible remarks, including Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson.

Meanwhile, my home state Senator, David Perdue, seems to be at the forefront of those denying or obfuscating what happened.  Who knows?  Maybe he is the poorest listener in the world.  Or maybe he is so used to the President swearing and his racial tirades that it doesn't stand out to Perdue.  He may also be hanging his hat on the fact that the Trump racist quotes may not be 100% perfect.  Like maybe he said s---house instead of s---hole, AS IF THAT WOULD BE ANY LESS MONSTROUS.

Senator David Perdue is an embarrassment to the state, and to decent thinking people everywhere.  His blind subservience to our racist, narcissistic con-man President, is a sickening site to behold.

Debate's Over: Saturday Political Soap Box 175

I saw the beginning of the Meet the Press Daily Show recently.  Chuck Todd, normally a very calm fellow, looked unusually agitated as current events forced him to a topic that left him uncomfortable. He began his show stating that they would center on the debate of this question - is the President a racist?

I'm sorry to break it to you, Chuck, but there is no more debate.

The debate is over.

Trump is a racist.  Trump has always been a racist.  Trump will always be a racist.

The most recent incident, where he degrades countries, exclusively countries with overwhelming black majorities, saying why do we allow immigration to the United States from these "shithole countries", while bemoaning why we don't get more immigration from a white country like Norway - if this remark doesn't drive his racism home to you, nothing will.

And this, of course, is just the most recent example of his foul racism.

You can go back to the sins of the father, where his father was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927.

Or to the housing discrimination lawsuits of the 70s, where they were openly discriminating against blacks being in the apartments Trump owned.

Or to his condemnation of the Central Park 5, even after they were proved innocent.

Or that he didn't want blacks handling his casino money, that only Jews in their yamakas were qualified for that.

Or him being the primary force behind the biggest racially inspired controversy of our times, birtherism, denying that Obama was American born, and even questioning Obama's college grades.

He began his campaign by calling Mexicans drug dealers and rapists.

His travel ban is largely a ban on Muslims, discrimination based on religion.

He thought the Nazis and white supremicists at the Charlottesvile rally included "many fine people."

I could go on and on and on with specific incidents.  If you're not familiar with them, congratulations on your ostrich-like head-in-the-sand existence.

His whole campaign was based on appealing to the worst instincts of white Americans, claiming their misfortunes were caused by an invasion of brown-skinned immigrants ready to take their jobs, minorities (primarily blacks) ready to take their tax dollars so they could live high on the hog without having to put in the time and effort they did, and fancy smartass liberals ready to take away their religion and culture.  These appeals helped shape the most loyal part of the Trump base.

So, does this mean you are a racist if you continue to support Trump?

Most likely, yes.  No one likes to think of themselves as a racist, and those who are, try to squirm out of it, with rationalizations, convoluted reasoning that helps protect the fragile ego.  But it doesn't work.  If you agree with Trump on his racial messaging, or you can't see what's wrong with it - bingo! You're a racist!

If you aren't a racist, and still support Trump, because of what you think he can achieve in tax reform or deregulation or defeating ISIS, or taking away women's reproductive rights, than you have simply sold yourself out too far.  Silence in the face of blatant racism is tacit support for racism.

If you're a conservative, and you can live with that, I don't know what to say to you.  There are many conservatives who have "woke up" and are speaking out against this vile man.  He is not only racist, but also mentally unstable, dangerously incompetent, lazy, sexist, narcissistic, a brutal con man with no heart or soul.  I could go on and on, and I have in the past and I will again in the future.  But some, particularly in my Christan Right dominated area, are not getting it.  And if they are, they simply don't care.

And that may be the most frightening thing of all.

2018 Up and Coming Events

Events coming up!

1st, on a personal front, January 20th, Alison and Benjamin will be seeing They Might Be Giants in concert!  This will be the third time Benjamin has seen them perform and the fifth time for Alison!

On February 10th, I will be performing Love Letters with Julianna Lacefield at Grace Episcopal's Valentine's Dinner.  Barbara Griffin and Lamar Deal will be performing the same play on February 17th at K.D.'s.

The first two weekends in March will bring The Addams Family to the Ritz theatre, WACT's 2018 musical production.  Benjamin will play Pugsley and I am Uncle Fester.  We are only a few rehearsals in, but I can already tell that the cast is outstanding, and this show will be well worth seeing.

In late March, I hope to be a part of the OHC Writer's Guild table at Collective Con in Jacksonville.  I have new stuff, but how much of it will be in published form by then is any body's guess.

Later in April, Purlie Productions will present Romeo and Juliet, bringing Shakespeare to Waycross.  This will be a spectacular endeavor, and I hope many of you will support it.  If you can't be a part of it, you need to go see it!  Make this a regular feature and attraction of the area!

I also should have sporadic guest appearances at Higginson & Paulk.

Dreary Tuesday Tidbits

Well, a quick variety pack to start off this post-Championship Tuesday.

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The team that should not have been in the playoffs won the college football championship.  That does not mean that I think it justifies their inclusion.  Might does not make right.  The playoffs should have been against conference champions. 

In that regard, Alabama should send a thank you note to the Wisconsin Badgers.  Had the Badgers defeated OSU, Alabama would be looking at this from the outside.  In other conferences, one loss could take you out - not so in the SEC.

The game was well in hand until Alabama suddenly remembered that they had the highest rated quarterback prospect in the history of mankind sitting on their bench.  It's like halfway through the Super Bowl, Atlanta suddenly realized they had Joe Montana in his prime just sitting on the bench.

M. Brown of Alabama may be the meanest player I have ever seen.  And I don't mean in a good way.

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The musical, The Addams Family, is going to be a struggle for me, at least in the dancing portion. But I don't want anyone to give up on me.  I am going to do everything I can to do things right.  It won't come easily to me, but I am determined to pull my weight (which, trust me, is quite a bit of weight to pull).

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I am trying to help an event take place with an organization that I belong to, but I have never been more discouraged in my life.  Everything I try to resolve creates more problems.  It's like the many-headed Hydra - cut off one head, and ten more heads take its place.  It's exhausting and humiliating, and I feel like no matter what I do, I'm going to lose.

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I have to go to work today.  This year starts an "on-call" schedule, and I've gotten the call.  This may not work too well.  One of the reasons I'm in the South is because back in Michigan, the only job I had was as a substitute teacher.  And I could not get used to waking up and not knowing whether I would be called in or not.  I'm not good at last-minute schedule changes.  Since I left my home state in part to avoid an "on-call" job, I'm not sure how well this current plan is going to work out.

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I've felt that even though our current politics are dark and disastrous, that in time a Progressive Majority will emerge and move us towards a golden age, with universal health-care and other vital progressive measures. My hope for this is wavering.  The Trumpeteers are not waking up, regardless of how foul and destructive Trump and his allies are.  I fear we will lose our freedom of expression and our vote restricted and hampered before we can achieve anything.   

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The snow has melted off.  The higher temps are returning.  And so will the gnats.

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I'm doe tidbitting for now. 

2017 Year In Review: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Apocalyptical

Everything about the political year of 2017 stems from one thing - the thin electoral college majority put together by the popular vote loser in the 2016 Presidential election.

The good?

There has been a resistance formed that has been more effective than anyone imagined.  Beginning with the women's march right after the inauguration, those opposed to the Trump agenda have spoken loud and clear.  Much of the proposed legislation by the Republican majority has not materialized.  The travel ban and other executives have been successfully challenged, or modified, by courts that believe some of the actions of the administration are unconstitutional.   The impossible has occurred also, in that now that the American people see more clearly what the alternative is, Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) has achieved record popularity.  At the same time, tax reform bill, normally a surefire thing, polled as the most unpopular tax bill in American history.

Thanks to the efforts of some extraordinary and brave women, sexual harassment in the workplace is finally a front and center concern.  Executives. television personalities, and even a few politicians, have all paid the price for their terrible behavior.  Alabama rejected an alleged pedophile in favor of a prosecutor of those who would bomb children (although by a very slim margin - still, a win is a win).

We have seen many people volunteer and help other Americans hit by severe weather and misfortune.  Whenever we get outside of our fierce tribalism, we can be a kind, generous and understanding people.

The bad?

The tax reform bill will not accomplish much in the way of simplification, or in relief to the middle class and working poor.  It will reduce the revenues coming into the government, and it will cause a sharp rise in deficit spending.  The only suggestions to balance this is to sharply cut programs benefitting the middle class, including Medicare and Social Security.

The judiciary nominees coming in are of a very ideological bent, not even especially experienced jurists.  They will help ensure that even when Progressives take over, that much of their legislation will be overturned and rejected.  The idea from the Christian right is that they will overturn Roe V. Wade, and impose Christianity as a sort of national religion.  The reality is that they will consolidate corporate power and wealth.

Regulations are being attacked indiscriminately, disregarding whether it is warranted or not.  Things that help protect us are being jettisoned with as equal vigor as nuisance regulations.  They just have to be called Obama-Era regulations, and that is supposed to be sufficient. This is how something like net neutrality gets abolished, even though the overwhelming majority of Americans want to keep it.

The ugly?

Our whole culture and civic responsibility are being threatened and challenged.  We have become coarser by a President who rules by tweet, insulting and demeaning our institutions and private citizens.  Things we would not tolerate from any other President have become commonplace, and have been accepted by far too many of us.

We are also becoming increasingly divisive, with racism and prejudice not fading but growing.  We have a President who thinks there may be good Nazis, a President who wants to treat urban areas like foreign war zones, who behaved as if Puerto Ricans were second-class citizens who did not deserve the help that places like Florida and Texas got.

The apocalyptical?

We are careening towards greater conflict, as we have abandoned diplomacy, reason, our own intelligence services, in favor of getting in schoolyard language fights, and acting like we are going to resort to military options first.  And it is so easy to trick this President.  He is susceptible to flattery and can be buttered up by anybody, even those who have no commitment to democracy.  China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Philippines - his favorites are a who's who of the world's most tyrannical leaders.  I swear, all North Korea has to do to get on his good side, is slap Trump's image on the side of a building and start composing praise songs in his name.

And worst of all, we have turned our back on global warming, denying its existence, even adopting policies that will accelerate it.  We have little time to reverse it.  It is already affecting the world, with the average global temperature rising, with extreme weather events increasing in frequency, with chunks of the Arctic and Antarctica and Greenland all falling away and causing the sea levels to rise.  As parts of the planet become uninhabitable, the future refugee crisis will make our current refugee situation look like pretty small potatoes.


Will 2018 be a better year?  I don't know.  Can we become a nation that bridges the divisions between us and works to make it a better country and planet for all of us?  Probably not.

But I'm not ready to give up hope.

A Once Every Two Decades Event

The first realization that some of the snow falling might stick, and not melt off the minute it hit the ground.

By northern standards, it was a fairly modest event.  A light dusting, a minor nuisance, the kind of early snowfall that could occur briefly in September by October.

By Southeast Georgia standards, it was a snowpocalypse, an unprecedented tsunami of snow and ice that had last occurred in Blackshear on Christmas Day 1989.

It was preceded by several hours of freezing rain, creating a slick layer of true danger.  We didn't think it would turn, even though the forecast said that it would.

But by around 11 AM, the rain began to turn to snow.

This is the front of my house at peak snow.  Yes, it wasn't enough to completely cover the ground, but it was definitely there.  It didn't melt the instant it hit the ground,  It actually stuck and stayed.

And a day later, much of it is still there!

Surprisingly, the small lake (big pond?) near our home did not freeze over.  No need to break out the ice skates, or the ice fishing hut.

Snow to Honda:  I have come to bury you!

Yes, I will wait until it melts off before I go anywhere.

1989 to 2017.  28 years between snowfalls.  Will the next wait for the next snowfall be that long?

I'm betting not. 

Why?  Because of the changing weather patterns caused by global warming.

Yes, because of global warming.  I know that's confusing to my Trumpeteer friends, but it's true,

Usually the rare Arctic blasts we get are composed of dry air, and not accompanied by moisture.  But with global warming, that is changing.  The clouds accumulate more moisture, and rain/snow events, when they happen, drop more moisture, causing floods and blizzards.

Global warming equals climate change equals more extreme weather events.

And we now have an administration whose response to global warming is to not just ignore it, but to accelerate and supercharge it.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll have to break down and buy an ice scrapper.

The March to 1,000

It was November 1963.

When I visited my Grandma & Grandpa Martin at their lakefront cottage, I would get a handful of change, walk a few cottages down the lane to a little grocery store, and there I would spend my money on a variety of things.  Candy, gum, science fiction magazines, and most especially, comic books.

I stumbled across a new issue featuring one of my favorites, Superman.  He had gotten himself into another fix trying to protect his secret identity, Clark Kent.  This time he was baled out by the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, who posed in the disguise of Clark Kent at a crucial time.  He promised to never reveal Superman's secret identity.  And if you couldn't trust the President, who could you trust?*

It was not long after the comic was released that JFK was assassinated.  It was on the stands when the assassination occurred.  That is what that comic, Action Comics #309, is known for.

Action Comics #309.  When the collector's boom of the 90s hit, no one would touch a comic with that high of a number.  People speculating on the value of a comic would only be interested in #1's, and the introduction of new characters.

Not me.  Not in 1963.  I was fascinated by that high of a number.  Action Comics began in 1939 and had been published continuously, on a monthly basis.  I dreamed about the opportunity to go back and get the earlier stories, but mostly I imagined what it be like to see that number grow and grow and grow, someday hitting #1,000.  I knew that would take a long, long time, but I was patient.  It was something to watch approach, and anticipate someday seeing.

Then comic companies lost their minds.  As sales fell, the only thing they could think of was to flood the markets with #1s.  If that meant starting their older titles with new number 1s, pretending (I guess) that they were new titles so they would get a temporary jolt in sales.

I sold comics in the 90s, and I remember kids coming in excited, wanting to sell their treasured Spider-Man #1.  But it wasn't The Amazing Spider-Man from 1962.  It was a re-launch of the title in the 90s.  I had to explain to them, in an attempt to sell to speculators instead of readers, they had flooded the market with millions of copies, and they were worth at best cover price.


The madness continued to grow and infect more and more comics.  Eventually, even the mighty Action Comics fell and was renumbered at #1.  My dream of seeing issue #1,000 was shattered.  And most comics didn't just renumber once.  Many did it, again and again, rebooting every few years.  Marvel got so bad, they did it almost every year, frightened to death over having a comic that went over the issue #12.

I complained.  I wanted the return of what I called legacy comics.  Other fans would scoff at me, claiming numbering was irrelevant.  I was even banished from one comics book group that I was participating in.  No one wanted to hear me complain about it.

Comic sales continued to plummet.  Comic bookstores were becoming as rare as, well, near mint issues of Action Comics #1.  Even as movie sales based on comics soared, the comics they were based on crashed in sales.  Decades ago, the most successful comics sold in the millions.  Now, only a handful break 100,000 in sales.

Then, a couple of years ago, with DC's most recent reboot, they decided to restore the numbering on two of its legacy titles, Action Comics, and Detective Comics.  I was back in the hunt!  Just as I was finally giving up comics, they drew me back into the game!  Not only that, the stories were improved, restoring the vitality of the entire Superman family.  Superman was married to Lois again, and even had a young child, with powers, a kind of SUPERBOY!

And in just the last few months, Marvel has restored the original numbering on virtually their entire line of comics!  Amazing Spider-Man approaches #800, Captain America #700, Daredevil #600.

I couldn't be happier!

And now, Action Comics has hit #991, and #1,000 is just right around the corner.

What I dreamed about happening way back in November 1963 is about to happen!

Woohoo!



*offer now void.

2017 Year In Review: The Part's That's All About Me!

2017 was a year of change, for myself, my country, and the planet.

For this post, I will focus on family, friends and community.

This has been a great year for acting alongside my son. Benjamin.  Starting with a great turn as Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank (to my role as Mr. Frank), it was followed up in the Fall with our appearance as the Costozuela brothers in the female version of The Odd Couple.  

I have experienced many grand things in the theatre, but nothing quite as special as performing side by side with my son.  He has marvelous acting instincts, and great comedic timing.

But there's more!  Benjamin and I  have both been cast to feature roles in the WACT presentation of The Addams Family!  I will play Uncle Fester and Benjamin Pugsley.

He goes off to college in the Fall of 2019, so I am treasuring as many of these opportunities as I can.

Writing was a mixed bag in 2017.  I did get my book into the local libraries, a long process that took several months.  History of the Trap sales have been small but steady locally, and I only sell ebooks during promotions - on its own it does nothing.  I published my autobiographical short stories in a paperback edition of Here Comes Tommy, to little notice or fanfare.

I completed My Europa, a science fiction story that remains unsold.  I put A Christmas With Pegasus on my blog, and it has received higher than normal page views.  I hope to have en ebook version of it soon.

Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge remains completed, and I hae done nothing with it, still overwhelmed with Hamletesque indecision as to self-publish or try to get an agent.

I hope 2018 will be a greater time of focus.  In addition to promoting the projects I hae completed, I hope to finish the second volume of History of the Trap, and complete my NanoWriMo project of The Extra Credit Club.

The biggest thing would be to get into a routine of writing at lease some fiction each and every day.  Wish me luck.

Alison had an outstanding year at work, including winning the award for Best Nutrition Staff Support for the WHOLE STATE OF GEORGIA!!!

Soccer became a new THANG in 2017, thanks to my son Doug , and the fantastic inaugural season of Atlanta United!  I saw two games with him, one at Bobby Dodd Stadium (Georgia Tech) and one at the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta.  Alison and I are both becoming enamored with this great sport!

We took a very special trip this year, to the cities of Vancouver and Portland.  Above is a river view of Vancouver, a wonderful city, filled with diverse and interesting people.  We took a number of walking tours, and got to know its in an honest and refreshing way.

The other city on our trip was Portland.  Yes, Portland is weird...but in a fun, delightful way.  My favorite was this sidewalk sculpture.  I called  it....Pigs With A Blanket!

It was the year to say goodbye to my old office, my man-attic, as Higginson & Paulk movved to a new location.  I had to take down my Wall of Plays, and this was my last camera shot before cleaning it out.

One of the most momentous and important decisions of my life was to step down from full-time accounting and only do it on a part-time basis.  

I am so happy that I prepared carefully and was able to take this step.  I am disappointed that I was not able to plan well enough to retire from accounting altogether.  I hae not developed adequate sources of income to completely replace.  I'll keep working on it, and hopefully something will break through in 2018.

2017 was also the year I got my unofficial "semi-retirement" dog.  Another foster failure, once I got attached to him, I couldn't let him go.  Boss-A-Man is a papillion/chihuahua mix of unknown age, who is as devoted to me as Pixie is to Alison.  I love being able to be home more with Boss-A-Man.

2017 as the year that Benjamin stepped forward even more in his church responsibilities.  He ushers.  He is now a lector, doing a New Testament reading once a month.  He has joined the choir.  

I am proud of my son.  Not only is he a good actor, a bright student, kind and understanding, he is also a faithful and deoted Christian, and an integral member of our parish at Grace Episcopal.

In the midst of the horrors of Trump and watching the nation make one bad decision after another, I am happy to be surrounded by such a happy and loving group of family and friends.

Happy New Year, everyone!