A Warning To My Readers
Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech, intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.
-Wendell Berry
I came to Sydney a quater of a century ago from a little town located right at the heart of Europe so I identify even deeper than Terry with his sentiments. Like the cops say, Rule No. 1 is to go home alive at the end of your shift. Every day is a victory over the abyss. Sydney Loves Me - It Really Loves MEdia Dragon ;-) During my exile years I learned the surreal meaning of philosopher Karl Popper's words: Those who believe they can make men happy are very dangerous men. I came to Sydney two months and a day after reaching the Austrian soil in 1980
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Twentieth: If Only Life Was As Predictable
Why are you holding back? Why are you stingy with yourselves? What are you saving for—for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now
I moved to New York twenty years ago this month. It never occurred to me as a young man that I would someday live here, and I'm still capable of being taken aback by the improbable fact that I do. Just the other day I was riding across the Brooklyn Bridge in a cab, and as I glanced out the window at the skyline of lower Manhattan, the city suddenly looked strange to me, as if I'd never seen it before. Perhaps you can never feel completely home in a city to which you move at the age of twenty-nine. Among other things:
-The World Trade Center still existed.
-So did the Berlin Wall.
-I was using the first VCR I'd ever owned.
-I hadn't bought my first CD player or fax machine.
-I had yet to use a personal computer, much less buy one.
-Cell phones didn't exist.
• Marcel Proust, in whose imagined world I am currently immersed, assures us that happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible. Making Happiness Possible [Truckers use that term when they have been on the road Black Dog: Bark and the world barks with you; Interview with Czeslaw Milosz by Professor Malgorzata Anna Packalén in Cracow - It isn’t at all that we write for those who come after us. We write to gain the sanction of our forefathers! ]
• · Czech writers have lost their status Writers without a cause ; The Enemy Within: Iron Curtain vs. Velvet Curtain; Iron Curtain Thriller
• · · Sure, anybody can tell you which authors you need to check out, but someone who spends seven days a week reading and writing is sure to make compelling suggestions Esquire editor Daniel Torday picks five young writers you should be reading ; A British television commercial for Australian food icon/condiment Marmite, inspired by 1950s sci-fi classic The Blob, is banned for “terrifying children.” Here’s the story, from BBC News: Marmite ads 'terrified' children ; A guide to surviving the bad dresses and expensive shoes to be the bride's right hand when she needs you most So you're gonna be a bridesmaid
• · · · Television advertising is blamed – or credited – with killing off small brewers and speeding the trend toward corporate consolidation. Profs uncap secrets of beer trade ; via John Kuraoka - adblog
• · · · · Painting pictures in the minds of your listeners is the key to effective presenting and persuasion Cheers, Not Jeers!” The Secret to a Winning Presentation ; UK High Street chain Marks & Spencer became the latest taker when it announced a tie-up with Amazon in a bid to breathe new life into its online business. Amazon pushes e-tailing expertise ; Self-publishing is in danger of becoming mainstream
• · · · · · Once Upon a Time When I Wrote a Book Authors helping authors ; Perhaps it is a saving grace of Russian politics these days that laws and orders are honored more in the breach than in the observance Honored in the Breach ; A blog can become like a monster that just gets hungrier as it grows, threatening to take over one's life My annual April allergies: taxes or pollen?