“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.”- Camus
For audio version click here : I once knew a man who could bend nails with his bare hands. I saw him take a 60 penny nail (6 inches in length) and twist it into a U. Slim “The Hammerman” Farman was the father of one of my students. Over 30 years ago, I saw him perform at Zern’s Farmer’s Market. He lifted two sledgehammers by the ends of their handles and extended them in front of […]
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For audio version click here : We do not need cults huddling on some mountain somewhere to tell us that the Apocalypse is near, that the “end times” are upon us. In some places, the Apocalypse has already happened, is happening — in the Congo, the Sudan, in Syria, in another dozen spots on the map, but one can make the case that Cambodia from 1975 to 1979* offers the most murderous example of apocalyptic […]
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For audio version click here : At 10 last night Wolfie and I walked in the backyard, waiting for him to find his spot. A warm, dark night, clouds trailed long, thin drapes across the stars — a good night to be outside, but almost as soon as we stepped out of the house, Wolfie became alert, wired into a scent only he had found. Shifting direction, hurrying, we followed a path of something away from […]
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For audio version click here : When I read The Iliad or The Odyssey the stories of the gods bore me to distraction. I skip pages, read at light speed, anything to get past their deep-grained dullness. Who cares about Zeus and Hera, trivial figures because of their extraordinary powers and immortality? If you can do just about anything and have all eternity to do it, what is the challenge, where is the edge that […]
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