tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6840816889381769042024-03-01T20:35:16.371-05:00NO PLACE FOR NORMAL: NEW YORKA blog about anything and everything New York, past and present: books and book fairs, voodoo, scams, junk mail. Madonna, Gay Lib, Wall Street, the West Village (where I live), dirty words, dying, fashion, finance, P.T. Barnum and the Donald, the Mystic Rose, upstate vs. downstate, stuffed cheetahs, and much more.Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.comBlogger548125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-46890549581887544942022-04-20T15:40:00.000-04:002022-04-20T15:40:36.291-04:00550. Foodie<p> Yes, I am at times a foodie, but aren't we all? Right now I crave</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>prune juice</li><li>English muffins</li><li>raisins in plain yogurt</li></ul><div>The first is a new craving, the secønd a memory, and the third a new discovery. But these replace foods I have long consumed but now reject ss boring:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>kale and collards</li><li>triple-washed baby spinach salad greens</li><li>apples</li><li>bananas</li></ul><div>But in my travels I have encountered marvels:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>French goat cheese (<i>chèvre</i>)</li><li>French<i> babas au rhum</i> (sponge cake topped with whipped cream and a cherry)</li><li>Italian pasta (almost any kind)</li><li>Mexican pineapple (<i>piña</i>) . </li><li>Mexican flan</li></ul><div>Yes, they can be found here, but it's not the same.</div><div><br /></div><div>In eating, I am a child of the Midwest, where corn is plentiful. In late summer I love to eat corn on the cob, with butter and salt dripping down my chin. Elegant? No. But earthy and fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, a foodie quiz:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>What is the largest nut?</li><li>What food from the New World was at first thought to be an aphrodisiac in England and called a "love apple"?</li><li>What common fruit, when introduced in the US in the 1930s. brought complaints from housewives that, no matter how long they cooked it, the skin or rind remained tough?</li><li> What language do "potato"and "tomato" come from?</li></ol><div>I'll give the answers in the next post. Meanwhile, fellow foodies, enjoy your meals.</div></div></div><p></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-45418031672424113282022-04-10T10:47:00.000-04:002022-04-10T10:47:19.147-04:00549. Surviving in New York City<p> Forgive another personal anecdote. My leg seemed to have a problem -- little bumps. No pain or itching, just little bumps. But this was the leg whose infection sent me to the hospital recently, so a council of war ws called. To make sure no new infection was involved, I and a select group of friends called 911 to have my vital signs checked. And 911 came -- four husky guys with all kinds of equipment. They checked those signs: normal. With nothing for them to do, they left. But a nurse was also summoned to check that suspect leg, and he repeated the vital signs check-up: normal. </p><p>Boring, isn't it? No crisis! Bu there's a complication: at times I find myself beahing fast, slowing down only gradually to what is, for me, normal. So there's lots for a doctor who makes house calls to consider. But it will take a lot -- maybe four officers with a strait jacket -- to get me out of my beloved top-floor apartment, high above the Magnolia Bakery of "Sex and the City" fame. I'm not ready for another hospital stay, and nobody will convince me that rehab centers are quieter and more restful than hospitals, when recent experience has taught me better. So here I am, home again, entrenched, and hoping for better. I love my apartment, my building, my neighbors, and the West Village, and will cling to the end.</p><p>The next post, I promise, will have no mention of me.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>, for me, normal. </p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-65916793341579054562022-04-04T10:28:00.000-04:002022-04-04T10:28:11.238-04:00548. Breaking Away<p> </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">BREAKING AWAY. A complete break, or a partial break. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;">You do it because you are tired tired tired of what you are doing. I did it after getting my Ph.D. in French. I left New York for San Francisco and the tail end of the Beat scene, before the Hippie madness took over. I was tired of </span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;">Academia.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;">How about you? Did you ever break away? Do you want to now? Tell us. We will listen.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-73889326985063474212022-03-27T16:36:00.000-04:002022-03-27T16:36:12.354-04:00547. My Bawdy, Genteel Party: Who Can Come and Who Can't<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> MY PARTY</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Nobody kills a party like a genius,"said the great party-giver Elsa Maxwell, and she should know. So no geniuses, at least if self-proclaimed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">So who can come? I'll confine myself to writers, since we know, or think we know, them best. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Chaucer</b>, for one. He had wide experience, and a great sense of humor, earthy and a bit naughty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Who else? The Greek playwright <b>Aristophanes</b>. He imagined an airy republic of the birds up in Cloud Cuckoo Land, would surely keep us in stitches. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Certainly our own Ben Franklin, who was witty and wise, and especially with the ladies, charming. He charmed the French court of Louis XVI, helped us get our independence.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Speaking of ladies, how about some? <b>Madame de</b> <b>Sévigné</b>, who wrote charming letters with a light touch. And <b>Jane Austen</b>, of course. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Any more Americans? Surely <b>Mark Twain</b>, with tales of his travels. And on a more serious note, <b>Henry James</b>, observant and worldly-wise, even if he uses ten words where three will do.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Who can't come? <b>Milton</b>: too sure of himself and everything. <b> La Rochefoucauld</b>: his Maxims, reducing everything to self-love, are too jaded, too sour. <b>Dr. Johnson</b>: a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, unflinchingly conservative. And<b> Romantic poets</b> generally: too weepy, too self-involved.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Shakespeare</b>? Yes, though we don't really know him; we know his works. And <b>Moliere</b>, who knew lot about human nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">That's enough, you get the idea. And you, my readers, are invited, too. A great time will be had by all.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-70266555717274119932022-03-20T13:40:00.000-04:002022-03-20T13:40:21.530-04:00 546. We Lived Richly<p><span style="font-size: large;">The closing paragraph of the online memoir I will soon send </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">to the Gay History Archive on 13th Street: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">So ends my story. On Thursday, March 17, 2022, I donated Bob’s diaries, correspondence, and photo albums to the Gay Center on West 13th Street, for inclusion in their gay history archive. None of it can be made public until ten years after my death. This memoir will also go there. This is a substantial collection that could someday be used in many ways. In it there is much pain, joy, frustration, and realization. We lived richly</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">.</span></b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Yes, we lived richly.</span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-68139523237609543112022-03-13T14:36:00.000-04:002022-03-13T14:36:01.006-04:00545. Surviving Hospital Food and the Squawking Bitch<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">545. Surviving Hospital Food and the Squawking Bitch</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">During my recent hospital and rehab center stay (see post 544),</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I had many misadventures. Among them:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">Going to the hospital in the worst snowstorm in years, arriving in my new room at 3 a.m. </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Dealing with the Squawking Bitch, a sadistic nurse's aide who -- unlike </span><span style="font-size: large;">most of the rehab staff -- made my life at times miserable.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Trying for four days to connect with an elusive nurse practitioner, then giving it up, only to have her finally materialize and prove most helpful.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Dining with other inmates who, when one of them screamed for help, continued their quiet conversation (his screams were a daily occurrence).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Getting little sleep because of lights coming on at 3 a,m., clattering bedpans dropped in the hall, and nurses determined to get your vital signs at odd hours.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Funny moments alternating with horrors that I cannot bring myself to describe.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In spite of the above, I highly recommend both Lenox Hill Hospital and Village Care, the rehab center on Houston Street where I was treated. They helped me a lot.</span></div><p><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-86207676509749860212022-01-23T11:31:00.000-05:002022-01-23T11:31:06.873-05:00543. Big Guys Who Don't Pay Taxes<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BROWDERBOOKS</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sold 14 paperbacks of <i>Fascinating New Yorkers</i> and one of <i>New</i> <i>Yorkers: A Feisty People</i> last November and December, while advertising the first one in the <i>New York Review of Books. </i>And two more of<i> Fascinating New Yorkers </i>in the first few days of January 2022 (maybe people using gift cards). <i> </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Why then? The holiday gift-giving season. So it looks like my assumption was accurate: lots of my potential readers subscribe to <i>NYRB. </i>But reader reviews on Amazon I'm not getting, and I could sure use some. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">My short story collection <i>Wicked City</i> is in the works, but my novel<i> Panther Lady </i>advances slowly -- I don't know why.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/s2048/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" style="clear: right; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/w426-h640/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" width="426" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> BIG GUYS WHO DON'T PAY TAXES</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, it's that time of year, when tax documents start clogging the mail, and tax accountants prepare for an avalanche of business. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">But not everyone pays taxes. I'm not talking about the little guy who gets a tax break. I mean corporations that rake in millions a year but quite legally don't pay taxes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to an online study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, we know which of the big boys paid not a penny of income tax to the federal government in 2020 -- 55 corporations in all. And most of them even got a tax rebate. In other words, the government owed them money. Among them: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Consolidated Edison: $1.2 billion in pre-tax income. Plus a rebate of $2 million.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Fed Ex: $1.2 billion in pre-tax income. Plus a rebate of $230 million.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Nike: $2.8 billion in pre-tax income. Plus a rebate of $109 million.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">And 52 others. How do they do it? </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">A tax break that lets companies write off executive stock- option related expenses that go far beyond expenses they report to investors.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The federal research and experimentation credit.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Tax breaks for renewable energy.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Depreciation tax breaks.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe puzzling to the layman, but not to these companies' tax consultants. Could these tax breaks be reduced or eliminated by the government? Of course. Will they be? Not easily. Such reforms don't interest many voters, concerned as they are with what affects them personally. Tax reform for corporations just ain't sexy.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Source note: </b> This information comes from a report by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, dated April 2, 2021, by Matthew Gardner and Steve Wamhoff, available online.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="font-size: 14.000000953674316px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/w400-h400/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-40983117452375355192022-01-09T08:39:00.000-05:002022-01-09T08:39:50.811-05:00542. Stingy Wednesday: The Answer to Giving Tuesday<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">STINGY WEDNESDAY</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE ANSWER TO GIVING TUESDAY</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giving Tuesday,<b> </b>the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, brings out the Scrooge in me. I <i>do</i> give to worthy nonprofits, who then give or sell my name to other worthy nonprofits. Result: I am constantly bombarded by appeals for money. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is no way I could give to them all, but they keep after me with letters, ads, and phone calls, assuring me it is the right thing to do, since it will make for a better world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">These appeals have reached the point where I rebel. I know their game, and when approached, recognize it and turn savage. Openings like these enrage me:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">Last chance ...</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Only 24 hours left ...</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Act now! ...</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Your gift will be doubled if you ...</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: large;">Giving Tuesday indeed! How about Giving Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday? I am harassed on every day of the week, especially during the holidays. What to do?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I propose that the Wednesday following Giving Tuesday become <b>Stingy Wednesday</b>, on which everyone vows to give not one cent to anyone. Be selfish. Read Ayn Rand. </span><span>Be a Scrooge. </span><span>Above all, keep in mind: </span><b><span>There is no one to love you like yourself. </span> </b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And don't feel apologetic about it. <b>Enjoy being a Scrooge.</b> It's fun. And try to out-Scrooge everyone else. That's fun, too. Your ego will take wings and soar. Left behind: your tormentors, and all the cunning promoters of Giving Tuesday and their well-meaning, namby-pamby dupes.</span></div><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/George_c_scott_as_scrooge.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:George c scott as scrooge.jpg" data-file-height="500" data-file-width="386" decoding="async" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/George_c_scott_as_scrooge.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="309" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">attribution: Robert Doucette</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div> <div><span style="font-size: large;">© 2022 Clifford Browder</span><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-86417854777812818912022-01-02T08:09:00.000-05:002022-01-02T08:09:17.337-05:00541. War Is Sexy, Peace Is Not<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> WAR IS SEXY, PEACE IS NOT</b></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Long ago, on station WBAI (where else?), I heard a high priestess of the New Age declare, “We’ve got to make peace sexy!” This inspired me to write a poem about peace that I now think is junk, but much lster I did another poem on the subject that may not be junk. Here it is:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Sexy</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Wild is sexy, tame is not.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">War is sexy, peace is not.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">God is sexy, His worshipers are not,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Though <i>Her </i>worshipers would be for sure.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Death, mysterious, is sexy,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Dying, messy, is not. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Gobbling junk food is sexy,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Health and healthy eating are not.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Stupid is sexy,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">If brash, loud, and shocking.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Wisdom,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Calm and contained, is not.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">For the sake of sanity, logic, </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">And the well-being of a cosmos</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Ever threatened by chaos,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">We’ve got to make</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Peace, health, and wisdom sexy,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Sexy as hell.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So there’s your assignment for the New Year: make peace, health, and wisdom sexy. It will make for a better world.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2022 Clifford Browder</span></p><div><br /></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-65504659121893808702021-12-26T07:52:00.000-05:002021-12-26T07:52:08.405-05:00540. Nocturne: A Goon Song<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> NOCTURNE: A GOON SONG</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Potatoes bleed</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Under the ache</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of old empires,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the moon</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In skillets of joy</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rasps.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I cannot tell you</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of the loves of oranges</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Or the death </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of hope in fertilizer.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mystical vacuum cleaners</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Inconvenience tourists</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In effete hotels.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Can paper clips survive?</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have dreamed</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of golden suppositories drifting</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a mauve gloom,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And passion sucked</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">From mouths no dentist penetrates.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Beware of beans.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How to evaluate</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The kitty litter of rejuvenation,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Terror,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the cracked skulls of birds?</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hair piece remembers,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ax oozes,</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The octopi advance.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 67.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is time for the sharpening of knives.</span></p><div><br /></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-1747393400273915972021-12-19T10:48:00.000-05:002021-12-19T10:48:35.710-05:00539. Mysteries<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">MYSTERIES</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This post is about mysteries of communication and healing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ll begin with the story of <b>my only out-of-body experience.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It occurred while I and my partner Bob were vacationing on Monhegan Island, Maine, where we rented a cabin from our friend Barbara.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We had just srrived that morning and spent the day unpacking and getting groceries.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">That night, heedng the bladder imperative, I went to the bathroom. There, suddenly, I sank quietly to my knees.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My mind was up somewhere in the air, observing with detachment my body, but my senses were not involved.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wasn’t alarmed, just wondering why that body was on its knees.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Bob came, pulled me up, and helped me back to my bed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We both went to bed but couldn’t sleep.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Something told me to tell Bob, “Open the windows.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was a mild, rainy night; he did.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> A little later we were still both awake, which was unusual, since we usually slept well on the island. “Let’s go to Barbara’s,” I said. So we went out in the rain, knocked on her door, and luckily found her still awake. Hearing our story, she went to the cabin with Bob and turned the gas refrigerator off. Meanwhile I flopped on a couch in her living room, and that night Bob and I both slept, or tried to sleep, at her place.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The next morning we all returned to the cabin, and Barbara called a handyman over. He confirmed her suspicion: the gas refrigerator’s motor was caked with a slow accumulation of carbon and emitting <b>carbon monoxide</b>. He scraped off the carbon, and all was fine. So monoxide was the explanation of my out-of-body adventure.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A close call for Bob and me, and my only out-of-body experience ever. What prompted me to have Bob open the windows, and then to suggest that we </span><span style="font-size: large;">go to Barbara’s? I don’t know, but both actions helped us survive. And I was now more convinced than ever that experience can come to us other than through the senses. I have argued this vehemently with atheist friends who cannot conceive of experiene other than through the senses. Having heard accounts of near-death experiences, where someone comes back to life and tells what happens after death, I am convinced that I am right.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even perception through the senses can have mystery. Long ago, when I was teaching French at a Catholic university, I had a student named Patrick who took a trip to Europe. He told me afterward of going to Italy to see the <b>Padre Pio</b>, a renowned Capuchin brother who would surely in time be made a saint. He got to see him, and after one glance at his visitor the Padre said, “You are not in a state of grace.” Which was true; Patrick had not been to confession while traveling. How could the Padre tell? I have no idea, but tell he could. And posthumously he was indeed made a saint.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Communication can overcome the barrier of language. In 1999 Bob and I traveled to Europe with our Monhegan friend Barbara. In Florence, hearing from Bob of a shop that sold <b>marbled paper</b>, Barbara wanted to go there, so she could learn more about how it was done. She hoped to do it and sell it in her gift shop on Monhegan. She and I went, having little command of Italian, and knowing that the shopkeeper spoke no English. But Bob had told us that he had a French wife and spoke French, so I cøuld translate. The shopkeeper was glad to answer Barbara’s questions, which I translated into French, and I then translated his replies into English. But after a while he could understand her questions without my translating, though I still translated his answers for Barbara, who learned all about oxblood (<i>sang de boeuf</i>), obtained from butchers and needed in the marbling process. Thanks to the shopkeeper’s information, back on Monhegan she began making beautiful sheets of marbled paper that she could sell in her shop.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another example: My friend Lilith, whom I first met on Monhegan, had a new career after her kids were grown and she and her husband separated: she became a <b>healer</b>. When she came every autumn to Monhegan, she had a list of islanders with chronic aches and pains whom she treated: no miracle cures, but they felt better afterward. I got to know her, and she told me how she had become a pupil of <b>a famous Zapotec woman healer</b>.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lilith went to Oaxaca, Mexico, knowing little Spanish, and aware that the Zapotec healer had no English. When she saw the woman, they needed two translators: one for Zapotec into Spanish, and one for Spanish into English. But by their third session, Lilith told me, they could dispense with translators; they understood each other perfectly, and Lilith learned a lot from the woman. And when Lilith came away from their sessions, native people approached her and, thinking her a healer, too, begged her to heal them. But Lilith, being at that point a mere pupil, did not attempt to do so.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The previous two examples of communication can perhaps be explained scientifically, so here is another story that, in my eyes, escapes the realm of science. My friend Gary, hearing an interview in New York with the <b>Dalai Lama</b>, was very impressed by His Holiness’s answer, when asked if he could love the Chinese Communists, who had done him and his people so much harm. “It is very difficult,” said the Dalai Lama, “but yes, I love them.” This so impressed Gary that he resolved to go to India, where His Holiness lived in exile, to thank him in person for his ability to love his enemies.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He managed to go, and before he met the Dalai Lama, he had another extraordinary experience. Attending a great public meeting with a famous guru, he sat in a section reserved for foreign visitors. When the guru arrived, he walked down an aisle right beside where Gary was sitting. For a moment their eyes met, and <b>Gary felt energy</b> <b>passing from the guru into himself</b>. No miracle resulted, simply a transfer of energy.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I am not aware of any scientific explanation of such a phenomenon. I have heard stories of healers and holy men touching supplicants, so that healing energy can pass into the supplicants. Imagination, say skeptics, or the placebo effect. If you think something or someone is helping you, you do in fact feel better — for a while.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Long ago I visited <b>Lourdes</b> and saw the wheelchairs, crutches, and canes discarded by people miraculously cured. It’s hard to dismiss all those healings as temporary and imagined. I think that some phenomena are beyond the grasp of our rational minds and not to be dismissed lightly. They may be rare, but I am not inclined to doubt them. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There is room for <b>mystery</b> in our lives. It is all around us. We come from mystery, and will return to it. And <i>that</i> is solid fact.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-79090271716203036302021-12-12T08:38:00.001-05:002021-12-13T11:05:58.404-05:00538. Watch Out for This Scam<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> BROWDERBOOKS</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">BOOKS MAKE GOOD GIFTS</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <b>Special Deal</b> <b>through Christmas Day</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm extending my sale. All my historical novels are available in print at <b>ten dollars each</b> until then, for anyone who can come to my West Village apartment to pay for their purchase and collect it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">If you're interested, contact me by e-mail: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span> <span><span> <span><span> <span><span> <span><span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">cliffbrowder@verizon.net</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">And now, <i>au revoir</i> and <i>hasta la vista</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Watch Out for This Scam</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It came as a phone call to me. A woman’s voice with a thick foreign accent identified the caller as Medicare and asked if I had received my <b>new Medicare card</b>. No, I said, though only half understanding her English. She then said they would mail it to me and verified my address, which she already had. She said more, but I couldn’t understand her. Annoyed, I finally hung up.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The moment I did so, I realized <b>it had to be a</b> <b>scam</b>. Medicare would inform me of such a development — a new card, superseding the old one — by sending me a letter on official stationery. And they would never entrust the notification to someone whose speech was almost incomprehensible. She was probably in some Asian country like India or Bangladesh, where many of these scams originate. Was I in danger? Probably not, for I had given them no information, only confirmed what they already had. <b> But watch out for this scam</b>.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I am beset with obvious scams, and with suspect phone calls and e-mails. <span>Any message with the words “urgent,” “this is your last chance,” “you are about</span><span> </span><span>to lose…,” and similar warnings prompt me to hang up or delete the e-mail.</span><span> </span><span>Likewise e-mails confirming my purchase of some item for a huge sum, when I have made no such purchase.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And they repeat. I have heard by phone from Amy at least six times. She announces, “Hello, this is Amy with Medical Services.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Your name was given to us by a medical professional....” What she then proposes I do not know, since I hang up at once. Why am I suspicious? She doesn’t address me by name; her message addresses anyone. And she doesn’t name the “medical professional” involved. Vague, vague, vague. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>These phony phone calls ring four times, then stop. This tells me I’m simply a name on a long list. If there’s no answer after four rings, the caller goes on to the next name on the list.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I sometimes wonder who these scammers are. Does Amy know what she’s been hired to do? Is it just a job to her, no matter how dubious? Or is she self-employed and reaping any profits herself? In any case, it's a wretched way to make a living, exploiting the good faith, vulnerability, or ignorance of others.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/w400-h400/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-55538921297768531122021-12-05T09:12:00.001-05:002021-12-05T09:12:53.275-05:00537. Portugal Beats the US!<p> </p><p><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 18px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> PORTUGAL BEATS THE US!</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">No, not in soccer, but in <b>good living.</b> The proof? More educated immigrants go there than to the US. And to other countries too, in preference to the US:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Canada</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Costa Rica</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Australia</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">New Zealand</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Singapore<b> </b></span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why do they prefer these countries to the US? A host of reasons.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Better tax breaks, housing support, job placement support, etc.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Clearer and fairer visa procedures.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lower cost of living.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Single-payer national health-care systems.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Better free public education.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Government support for having and raising children.</span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Who then comes to the US? Desperate people fleeing poverty and violence. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So there it is. If you’re educated but inclined to move, why come to a country that</span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bombs your native land</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Calls you names because you’re not white</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Has ruinously high student debt</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Spends enormous sums on the military</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Has health-care costs that have bankrupted people of limited means.</span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How do I know all this? From a foreign-born friend, now a US citizen, who has traveled a lot and is very knowledgeable on the subject. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The US is no longer the place where educated immigrants want to go. Portugal and other countries are upstaging us. In those countries newcomers are welcome and live better.</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Foreigners still come here for a college education and graduate work, but if they want to emigrate, they go elsewhere.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some Americans are suspicious of immigrants, even educated ones, and couldn’t care less if they go elsewhere.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Which is crazy.</b> These are the most desirable immigrants, often qualified for jobs we have trouble filling. Desirable, and they go elsewhere. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: large;">Our loss, and Portugal’s gain. And Canada's and Costa Rica's. </span></span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: large;"> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Crazy!</span></span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-44851847827866155782021-11-28T08:42:00.000-05:002021-11-28T08:42:06.721-05:00536. Lullaby: Another Snarkie.<p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Snarkies seem to be preferred, so </span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">here's another, a lullaby in -- of all</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">things! -- rhyme. How traditional,</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">how quaint!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Lullaby</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Lullaby O my dear one</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Sweet dreams and good night</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">May demons torment you</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">And your worries choke tight.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Hush now my darling</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">These hours are blessed</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">May nightmares besiege you</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">With fury and zest.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Close your eyes, rest your noggin</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">And your brain full of lead</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">If your bladder malfunctions</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Please don’t wet the bed.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Lullaby and good night</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Since I can’t wish you well</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Sleep deep and forever</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Dear lover from hell.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Appropriate for Valentine's Day, so maybe I'll republish it then.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><div><br /></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-38605977116201513692021-11-21T07:52:00.000-05:002021-11-21T07:52:43.260-05:00535. Four Titters Crammed with Wisdom<p><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Four Titters Crammed </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>with Wisdom</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Here is <b>WISDOM</b> crammed into </span><span>three- </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>and two-line </span><span><b>Titters</b>. </span><span>First, two that go </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>together:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Mind over Matter</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">“I’m not masturbating,”</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">Said the man in the phone booth.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">“I’m having sex with a woman in Chicago.”</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"> Matter over Mind</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">Roaches in paradise.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">Phone God, Porto-Potty answers.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And now another three-liner:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pterodactyls</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">If you see one, you’re a poet.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Two, a visionary.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Three, a nut.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And finally, a six-liner:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Six Things That Keep Us from Suicide</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">A tight schedule.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Hope.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">No gun.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">No poison.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Hate to waste gas.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Diarrhea.</span></p><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Coming soon:</b> Another <b>Snarkie,</b> a lullaby.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaal4OXJdfpVG0ZFkllrn8KQriaflrkhp81tRCzK8oWLDhW4MksKQZNlqsRFUICEJH5OCwwZVYU-QwOIr0NVkwx5MfwFIslxxek2CFgPxPVWXAq0NLcq3DijhaLWkAB-zOpKRjry94go/w400-h400/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 49.5px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-28902278936990711872021-11-14T08:15:00.000-05:002021-11-14T08:15:15.609-05:00534. Cranky: A Grump.<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> Cranky: A Grump</b></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Of the unholy trinity, Titters, Grumps, and </b></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Snarkies, we've met a Titter and a Snarkie. </b></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Here now is a Grump.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> Cranky</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 15px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">There’s a crank buried deep inside us</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That we’re ashamed of, try to squelch.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">What a waste of talent,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">What a loss of fiendish joy!</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">For there are joys in being cranky, consider:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Time is on your side;</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">We all get crankier with age.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You don’t have to flash </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That ninny smile,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Limp, insipid, forced,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">When others flash at you</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That ninny smile,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Limp, insipid, forced.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You can love yourself ad nauseam,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Every foible, every crotchet, every quirk.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">A known crank,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You will be avoided by do-gooders urging you </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">To save baby seals, whales, the world,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">When, snug in your own tight nest,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You don’t give a damn about </span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Baby seals, whales, the world.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">If in a weak moment</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You perpetrate an act of kindness,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You will astound everyone</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">And reap unwonted praise.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">So what if people call you</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">An oddity, a grouch?</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Immune to derision,</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">You will enjoy yourself</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Unconscionably</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">To your brazen heart’s content.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So feel free to express yourself. If the</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">mood hits, be a Grump. And above </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">all, <b>ENJOY IT</b><span style="color: red;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Next time, for the sake of brevity, </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">three-liners and two-liners absolutely </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">crammed </span><span style="background-color: white;">with wisdom.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7u3ER2kJ2M4vXKcynTxTCrCLHDZfOml_68trJO8ASdbVqASIcNJTMbh9P3iN53p2hKUvUU_ObSzawhd11laqHUWRR1ilglKpwl2J_9WYTgfGgayBXefSG8a3CIH3p2I3dwp-csHTtaaeK/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7u3ER2kJ2M4vXKcynTxTCrCLHDZfOml_68trJO8ASdbVqASIcNJTMbh9P3iN53p2hKUvUU_ObSzawhd11laqHUWRR1ilglKpwl2J_9WYTgfGgayBXefSG8a3CIH3p2I3dwp-csHTtaaeK/w400-h400/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-26468460240137075852021-11-07T08:06:00.000-05:002021-11-07T08:06:28.225-05:00533. Wishes for My Enemies. A Snarkie.<p><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-large;"><b>Wishes for My Enemies. A Snarkie.</b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><b>Last time we talked about Titters,</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><b>Grumps, and Snarkies. So now let's</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><b>do a Snarkie.</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>Never make an enemy of a writer; their </i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i><span>revenge </span><span>can be fierce. </span><span>For instance this </span></i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i><span>poem, which bears </span><span>no dedication.</span></i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> Wishes for My Enemies</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Bedbugs and constipation,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Irritable gut and fallen arches,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Relentless creditors,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Ruinous investments,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Disastrous infatuations,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Boredom, infinite and never ending</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">With a terrifying midnight awareness</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Of their own irrelevance,</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Their puniness</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">On this unfeeling earth.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>Rather nasty, isn't it? A real Snarkie. </i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>But that's not the end of it. There are </i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>two more lines.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Fine. But what if</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My worst enemy is me?</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>So maybe now it's a Titter. Certainly not </i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>a Snarkie. To round things out, next time </i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><i>we'll do a Grump.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-11664994012694741962021-10-31T08:24:00.000-04:002021-10-31T08:24:56.698-04:00532. Titters, Grumps, and Snarkies. A Titter.<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b>NEW</b> <b>-- Titters, Grumps, and Snarkies</b>. But what are they?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This is a <b>Titter</b>. It provokes a quiet laugh, or </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">maybe </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">just a smile.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Wishes for My Friends</span></b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">Chocolate truffles and warm pajamas</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">Naughty books, great art, marvelous sex</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">Contentment without boredom</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">And once or twice a year</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">A shock, a jolt</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">To break their habits, astonish them</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: medium;">And keep them stark and strong.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8wNBQYMBlyBtu3TiFaS3oDVW86n2-T2TpLoqK49cChWdbnxOU6DdM2OeGgVaeLSO7UL0z5LMwXSpebZeUhRutDWESRPkCWT3T3wxj6WQRSkuAJ0JvCZPicxzVUz0ur_bPcou9_xgBoiA/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8wNBQYMBlyBtu3TiFaS3oDVW86n2-T2TpLoqK49cChWdbnxOU6DdM2OeGgVaeLSO7UL0z5LMwXSpebZeUhRutDWESRPkCWT3T3wxj6WQRSkuAJ0JvCZPicxzVUz0ur_bPcou9_xgBoiA/s320/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Next week its companion piece, "Wishes for My Enemies," a<b> Snarky</b>. And maybe, maybe, an </span><span>explanation of where these things come from and what I'm up to.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b>Wild stuff ahead. Stick around.</b></span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><div><br /></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-81613967256708713722021-10-24T08:54:00.000-04:002021-10-24T08:54:23.954-04:00531. Killing<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> BROWDERBOOKS</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">My historical novel <i>Forbidden Brownstones, </i>set in nineteenth-century New York, has many features, as the following tags indicate. (Don't know what a "tag" is? Now you do.)</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">a young black man acquires power in a city of white prejudice</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">an obsession that risks death by fire and murder</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">the most exclusive brothel in the city</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">a madam's fierce revenge</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">the illusion of youth peddled to senescents and satyrs</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">a sudden death in the parlor</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_nuHvRkJ-SO5WmkRcOBx9ZPG_fhgm-4-puBOOsgNxPmmBNyPZcSZIZFZ37x5I_Id9W8U8x3ivdJvupMTApIiQdyh3poFVLhp4_kAhdBADMz6boAHvRHBiT8gsMqXt0aNbzWlZkGGDBLf/s2048/ForbiddenBrownstones_CVR_LRG.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_nuHvRkJ-SO5WmkRcOBx9ZPG_fhgm-4-puBOOsgNxPmmBNyPZcSZIZFZ37x5I_Id9W8U8x3ivdJvupMTApIiQdyh3poFVLhp4_kAhdBADMz6boAHvRHBiT8gsMqXt0aNbzWlZkGGDBLf/s640/ForbiddenBrownstones_CVR_LRG.jpg" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">Recommended by Sublime Book Review with a five-star rating. Available from</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Clifford-Browder/e/B001HOP166%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Amazon</a><b>,</b></span><span style="color: black;"> <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-brownstones-clifford-browder/1138480564" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>, and<a href="https://www.widopublishing.com/product/forbidden-brownstones-by-clifford-browder/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"> WiDo Publishing</a>.</span></span></div><p></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Killing</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When the State undertakes to execute certain convicted criminals, it gets messy, for every possible method has its drawbacks.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hanging,</b> the common practice in former times in the US and elsewhere, could fail to do the job. Dangling victims twitched and gasped in midair, before succumbing. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Overland Monthly- August MET DP866776 1.jpg" data-file-height="3458" data-file-width="2810" decoding="async" height="599" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg/487px-Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg/730px-Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg/973px-Overland_Monthly-_August_MET_DP866776_1.jpg 2x" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="487" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The electric chair </b>was our bloodless, scientific solution in the US. But here too, victims sometimes twitched in agony, urinated or defecated, and the eyeballs could literally pop out. Messy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Electric_Chair_at_Sing_Sing-noborder.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Electric Chair at Sing Sing-noborder.jpg" data-file-height="737" data-file-width="955" decoding="async" height="308" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Electric_Chair_at_Sing_Sing-noborder.jpg/777px-Electric_Chair_at_Sing_Sing-noborder.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Electric_Chair_at_Sing_Sing-noborder.jpg 1.5x" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="400" /></a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">(A side note: white attendants strapping in a black prisoner. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">My only comment: no comment.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So today states with the death penalty use <b>lethal injections,</b> administered to a strapped victim who is mercifully unconscious, having been injected with an anesthetic. But what if an inexperienced technician injects a muscle, instead of a vein, or if the needle becomes clogged, causing intense pain to the victim? Messy again.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pharmaceutical companies have become squeamish about letting their products be used in executions, so if lethal injections are impossible, some states now allow prisoners to choose the <b>firing squad</b>. Which assumes good aim on the part of the squad. And yes, messy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The French have a solution, introduced during their famous 1789 Revolution: the <b>guillotine</b>. It’s quick and ruthlessly efficient. But it’s bloody, and there are all those decapitated bodies to be disposed of. In executing people we Americans, like the medieval Church, have a horror of blood. (The Inquisition condemned people, but left executing them to the secular authorities, who did it with a vengeance.). </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b>: when it comes to executing people, whatever we try is messy. Which gives plenty of ammunition (oops, I mean arguments) to opponents of the death penalty. Yes, eliminating it makes for crowded prisons, and voters don’t like to see their taxes going to such institutions, which some people label “country clubs” — people who have never been in prison. Prison is no picnic. I know this from stories told me by a penpal inmate. But it lacks the terrible finality of execution, the irreversible judgment of death.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>This debate will never end.</b> Here in the US we have fifty states, each with its own laws and regulations. And public opinion swings between the alternatives: death penalty vs. no death penalty. When human life is involved, it’s not an easy problem to resolve.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-17065656018848389742021-10-17T09:09:00.000-04:002021-10-17T09:09:46.606-04:00530. Kill<p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BROWDERBOOKS</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The new edition of <i>Fascinating New Yorkers</i> has received two five-star reviews from Readers' Favorite. Excerpts follow.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">It is really a pleasure to discover all these personalities one after the other. <i>Fascinating New Yorkers</i> is a book that will appeal to anyone who enjoys an interesting read. -- <b>Five-star review for Readers' Favorite by Astrid Iustulin.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Each character is presented with a sense of familiarity that is not always found in biographical sketches. This makes for an interesting read whether you’re a New Yorker or not. -- <b>Five-star review for Readers' Favorite by Emily-Jane Hills Orford.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/s2048/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" style="clear: right; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/w426-h640/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Available from </span></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1733378243/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i7" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazon</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">KILL</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>“Be a killer,”</b> Fred Tump told his young son Donald long ago, and Donld has followed his advice ever since.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not literally, of course. We use the verb “kill” and words related to it rather freely, not meaning to take someone’s life. For instance:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You kill me. (You’re too much. You’re overdoing it, but I’m not fooled.)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m just killing time.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">He made a killing in the market.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">She’s a real killjoy.</span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the verb <i>kill</i> has, in English, a force to it. It’s a monosyllable, short, quick, and clean. Shakespeare knew it, when he had a deranged King Lear exclaim</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Have I ever killed? </b> Yes, bugs galore. Mosquitoes, flies, roaches, mice. The mice and roaches by using glue traps, the flies with a flyswatter, the mosquitoes with a quick swat by hand. Did I relish these massacres? <b>You bet.</b> We’re all killers at heart, but in different contexts.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I once heard of a young man who, for Christmas, asked his parents for a motorcycle; they said they would see about it. The young man had high expectations. But when Christmas came, his parents apologized, explaining that they just couldn’t afford it. The young man was crushed, then furious. Knowing where his father kept a gun, <b>he got it and shot both parents dead.</b> Then, appalled at what he had done, he rushed to the garage to get in the family car and drive away, to where he didn’t even know. And sitting there in the garage was a shiny new motorcycle. His parents had wanted to surprise him.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a true story. The young man fled in the car, but in time he was arrested and sent to prison. He was impulsive and prone to anger, but not a hardened criminal. Yet deep inside him there was a potential killer, waiting for some incident to propel him into action. Do any of us know fully what lies buried deep inside us? Maybe a killer. Scary.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Have I ever seen a killer? </b> Yes, at the Coney Island Aquarium: a shark. It was swimming in a large tank, its sleek, streamlined body supple, its eye evil, its jaws equipped with jagged, in-curved teeth, so that the more a victim struggled, the more it would be impaled on those teeth, rendering escape impossible. <b> An efficient, swift killer, and beautiful. </b> Yes, seen swimming freely, beautiful. But not one to meet in the open sea. Bathers and surfers, watch out. Sharks pop up when and where least expected, with dire results.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Grey_nurse_shark_2.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Grey nurse shark 2.jpg" data-file-height="467" data-file-width="700" decoding="async" height="467" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Grey_nurse_shark_2.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="700" /></a></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gray nurse shark, Minnesota Zoo</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jlencion" style="background-image: none; color: #663366; font-family: sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" title="en:User:Jlencion"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>photo credit: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></span><a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jlencion" style="background-image: none; color: #663366; font-family: sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" title="en:User:Jlencion"><span style="font-size: small;">Jlencion</span></a><span face="sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In nature, killing is normal, even necessary</b>. Cats kill birds; do we then hate cats? Once when, on vacation, I was watching a flock of migrating sparrows feeding on some seed that I had put out, a small hawk swooped down and grabbed one of the sparrows, while the others scattered in terror. The hawk — a sparrow hawk, smallest of the falcons — then proceeded to feed on its dead victim. It was nature, it was basic and — in a way — beautiful.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times;">Animals kill because they must eat to survive. To my knowledge, <b>only humans kill for pleasure</b>,<b> for vengeance, out of hatred or ideology or greed.</b> (If there’s an exception, it might be cats, since they play with a captured mouse before killing it.) And yes, sometimes <span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">we humans</span> kill in self-defense, which, if true, can be justified.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">A messy subject. And when the state executes, it’s really messy. I’ll go into that next time.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMR8aM8v3hLiZbjriyie11YF2HKC54h00kpqR5Mr0KkPYAY59DTLJYOKWjkkTci4VOZ6hMcJI6gHTvAncPafL0C1KH8jE0g0ONDSFqq2QPgIAH5WO065aeu07THw7TzUUWqY2MJ5OqIDC8/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMR8aM8v3hLiZbjriyie11YF2HKC54h00kpqR5Mr0KkPYAY59DTLJYOKWjkkTci4VOZ6hMcJI6gHTvAncPafL0C1KH8jE0g0ONDSFqq2QPgIAH5WO065aeu07THw7TzUUWqY2MJ5OqIDC8/w640-h640/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-34036494934531231492021-10-10T09:07:00.000-04:002021-10-10T09:07:28.916-04:00529. PR and Old Sigi Freud<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Face_detail%2C_%22Cigarette_girl%22_%288969352345%29_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Face detail, "Cigarette girl" (8969352345) (cropped).jpg" data-file-height="442" data-file-width="353" decoding="async" height="442" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Face_detail%2C_%22Cigarette_girl%22_%288969352345%29_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="353" /></a></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">PR and Old Sigi Freud</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever felt manipulated, pressured to do something, buy something, vote for someone or something? Have you ever done something on an impulse, and then later wondered why? What probably motivated you has been called “persuasive communication,” but today the term is PR,<b> public</b> <b>relations</b>, and guess who’s to blame: <b>Sigi Freud</b>!</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not that he got directly involved; he remained aloof, the distinguished pioneer in the study of the subconscious mind. It was his Americanized nephew, <b>Edward L. Bernays</b>, who adopted Uncle Sigi’s ideas. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Bernays has been hailed … or vilified … as “the father of public relations.” </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">An example of his handiwork: In the 1920s he had <b>Lucky Strike</b> cigarettes as a client. Their problem: <b>women didn’t smoke</b>. So Bernays went to work, He launched a nationwide survey: “What is your favorite color?” Women answered “green,” the color of nature and money. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So Bernays hired hundreds of beautiful women, all dressed in green and smoking cigarettes, to parade through Paris, London, Milan, and New York. The result: all over the world <b>women began smoking</b>.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And what did he call cigarettes?<b> Torches of freedom</b>. Liberated from Victorian mores, women supposedly showed their independence by smoking — an idea that Big Tobacco would push to the limit. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>“You’ve come a long way, baby,”</b> announced the 1970s ads for Virginia Slims cigarettes, made by Philip Morris and marketed specifically to women; I remember them distinctly.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So there you have it: torches of freedom, which some today have rechristened <b>“cancer sticks.”</b> And it’s all thanks, via his nephew, to Uncle Sigi Freud. Who, by the way, was a smoker.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">PR was welcomed and used not only by merchandisers, but also by authoritarian movements and regimes determined to tame and control the moods and actions of the mobs of people empowered by democracy. </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">For that, too, thank you Uncle Sigi, via your brilliant </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">nephew, Mr. Barclays, whom <i>Life</i> magazine once hailed as one of the one hundred most influential Americans of the twentieth century.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Source note:</b> This post was inspired by Bruce Poli’s article, “Sigmund Freud and the Birth of Public Relations,” in the October 2021 issue of <i>WestView News</i>, the monthly local newspaper serving New Yotk’s West Village. Much of its information comes from that source.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5Tv6fUlx34zu4x3otBk_DgGt7b7JsIKdgpgQi5JBBCaU87ITtW0Kd_rIrerkH2VRz_2fhio3FAwHcnVDeEgAN9Uti1PV9eGk3mppxK5d0GOZfW-Q3hzi2NOi5UDtBa6RW6w01VsgIKIF/s2048/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5Tv6fUlx34zu4x3otBk_DgGt7b7JsIKdgpgQi5JBBCaU87ITtW0Kd_rIrerkH2VRz_2fhio3FAwHcnVDeEgAN9Uti1PV9eGk3mppxK5d0GOZfW-Q3hzi2NOi5UDtBa6RW6w01VsgIKIF/w640-h640/BROWDERBOOKS+JPG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-48718831095843311872021-10-03T07:32:00.000-04:002021-10-03T07:32:37.951-04:00528. Nine Reasons Why I Hate Facebook<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> Nine Reasons Why I Hate Facebook</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/MarkZuckerberg.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:MarkZuckerberg.jpg" data-file-height="604" data-file-width="453" decoding="async" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/MarkZuckerberg.jpg/450px-MarkZuckerberg.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/MarkZuckerberg.jpg 1.5x" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="301" /></a></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He created a monster.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>Photo credit: Elaine Chan and Priscilla Chan</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why do I hate thee, Facebook, let me tell thee why. </span></p><ol>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I go to my Facebook page, I am assaulted by posts from people who may be followers of mine, but whom I don’t know and probably — with a few exceptions — don’t want to know. And their photos appear alongside mine. </span></li></ol><ol start="2">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Off to the right there may be ads that I have no control over, and a list of CONTACTS, some of whom I recognize, and many of whom are total strangers.</span></li></ol><ol start="3">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Among the long string of posts are photos of cats: adorable, but how many photos of adorable cats am I obliged to look at and proclaim love of? Photos of the adorable young children of total strangers evoke the same response.</span></li></ol><ol start="4">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">These posts from strangers elicit responses from other total strangers — “Adorable!” “Beautiful!” “So cute!” — making me feel that there are conversations going on that I am not a part of, even though all this is on my page.</span></li></ol><ol start="5">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And if the subject is not adorable pets but something political, the responses are a chorus of exclamations — “I totally agree!” “You are so right!” “Well said!” — showing that the blogger is preaching to the choir. </span></li></ol><ol start="6">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And any disagreement, even if expressed civilly, risks provoking a swarm of nasty outcries and accusations of bigotry, racism, homophobia, cynicism, and misogyny.</span></li></ol><ol start="7">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the left of the page is a long menu of options, most of which utterly baffle me: Groups, Watch, Memories, Saved, News, plus the ominous threat of STILL MORE.</span></li></ol><ol start="8">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, somewhere over to the right is access to my other page, the “public” one, Browderbooksbiz, as if this, my “private” page, weren’t overrun with an uninvited public. And if I go to Browdebooksbiz, I’m immediately confronted with invitations that will cost me time and money: Create Ad, Create Post, Create New Ad, Boost a Post, Automatic Ads. “Biz,” indeed, but whose “biz” is it? Certainly not mine.</span></li></ol><ol start="9">
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In short, Facebook is jumbled, chaotic, time- and money-sucking, irrelevant, and intrusive. Mark Zuckerberg, its co-founder and CEO, has produced a sprawling, hungry monster that devours, or tries to devour, whatever lies in its path. And that means us.</span></li></ol><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And this doesn’t even address such problems as FB’s failure to block Russian interference in our 2016 election, fake news, hate speech, and its syphoning off of personal data without our knowledge or consent. Why then do we still keep our accounts? Several reasons:</span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Habit, which usually is another word for laziness, for lack of initiative, for blind and timorous conformity.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">FB reminds us of birthdays, anniversaries, and other events we might otherwise forget.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It lets us keep in touch with distant family and friends without the trouble of making phone calls or writing letters — so twentieth-century, so “quaint.”</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s often needed for work or school.</span></li>
</ul><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">If anyone wants to agree or disagree, proclaim undying love for, or unremitting hate of, Facebook, or some wishy-washy position in between, the author welcomes such interventions and would love to hear from you. The monster is in our midst, clutching at our throats. How can we ignore it?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-29308044609858744832021-09-26T07:34:00.000-04:002021-09-26T07:34:38.975-04:00527. Polly Adler, Queen of Tarts<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;"><b><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></b></span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Polly Adler, Queen of Tarts</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>“Going to Polly’s?”</b> was a question often asked among the city’s night-reveling elite in the Roaring Twenties, that fabled decade when Prohibition and the Charleston reigned. But more often one heard “See you at Polly’s,” for the presence there of one’s partying friends could be safely assumed. <b>“Polly’s”</b> was obviously a very “in” place at which to be seen. But what was it, and who was Polly?</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Polly’s: 215 West 75th Street, on the West Side of Manhattan. Persian carpets, Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture, gilded mirrors, oil paintings of delicious female nudes, a Gobelin tapestry showing Vulcan and Venus wantonly engaged, and walls lined with books that added atmosphere but seemed rarely to be read. Whoever she was, Polly was in the chips.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And in the evening the place was jammed with people: </span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mayor Jimmy Walker and his chorus girl playmate;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">gangsters Lucky Luciano and Dutch Schultz;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">politicians, actors, judges;</span></li><li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">and Algonquin Round Table members Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley.</span></li></ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were late-evening dinner parties amid the buzz of gossip, while some guests played mah-jongg in a Chinese room, and business deals were struck over a Scotch and soda at the bar.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Presiding over all was Polly, short and dark-haired with a winning smile, no rare beauty but a friend to all. She had come a long way from her humble Jewish origins to become the city’s most notorious and successful <b>madam</b>. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, Polly’s was a <b>brothel</b>, well stocked with young women available at the going rate of twenty dollars a tumble. Some guests came for sex, some for cards and drinks, and some for an atmosphere mixing the elegant and the tacky. But they all came for Polly Adler, <b>Queen of Tarts.</b></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">For more about Polly, see chapter 14 of my newly released paperback, <i>Fascinating New Yorkers: Power Freaks, Mobsters, Liberated Women, Creators, Queers and Crazies. </i>Polly was certainly liberated. You will learn</span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How a nice Jewish girl became a procuress;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How, one after another, her houses were raided and shut down, and she went to court in a mink;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How charges against her were mysteriously dropped, allowing her to open another even more luxurious establishment;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How Polly finally quit the trade, realized a childhood dream by finishing high school, and published a memoir that became a bestseller: <i>A House Is Not a Home.</i></span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Though attracted to men, she never married. Marriage had little appeal, compared to being<b> Queen of Tarts</b>.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Polly is just one of many New Yorkers, some remembered and </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">some forgotten, some sinister, some admirable, and some notorious, who appear in </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fascinating New Yorkers. </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">K</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">nowing them, you</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">may </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">be shocked or puzzled or angered, but you will not bored. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The paperback is</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> available from </span></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1733378243/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i7" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazon</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;">. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/s2048/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj4uHiru_MUPJzTlr5uCwIHPxLIC5njYf6lBDxaqECgObOXrcIdZvK0kWp2R9hmiIPc4eAAHUYYt6vo5rJUgrQwFMjJugzhnhCll8Bened7e-zjFJaxgcz7bcDsoyFkajY3lUEfOGF2Jl/w426-h640/Fascinating+New+Yorkers.jpg" width="426" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p><div><br /></div>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-61471584032635203852021-09-19T06:43:00.000-04:002021-09-19T06:43:50.831-04:00526. Wild Women of the West<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></p></div><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Lola Montez portrait by Josef Heigel before 1840.jpg" data-file-height="2044" data-file-width="1697" decoding="async" height="600" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg/498px-Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg/747px-Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg/996px-Lola_Montez_portrait_by_Josef_Heigel_before_1840.jpg 2x" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="498" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lola Montez</span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Wild Women of the West</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">To the American cities of the East, in post–Civil War days, came word from the West of <b>wild women</b>. The West — meaning the Great Plains, the Rockies, and points west, all the way to the shores of the Pacific — was itself a wild and lawless region, full of crazy gold rushes, nasty rattlesnakes, grasshopper plagues, and desperadoes, which the civilized East could do without, though such matter made for fascinating reading. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">That there were<b> wild women</b> out there also — not the native women, secure in their tribal traditions, but white women who had somehow gone wild — was surprising, shocking, and tantalizing. For instance:</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Four-Ace Dora, described as “crushingly beautiful,” who when the mood took her, rode a galloping mustang right down the main street of town with her hair streaming wild behind her, wearing only a chemise;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Razorback Jennie, who swung a mean ankle at the dance halls;</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b>Minnie the Gambler, who took a cowhide to any gent fool enough to try to cheat her at cards.</span></li>
</ul><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>But the queen of them all was was<b> Lola Montez</b>, ex-Queen of Bavaria and toast of three continents. Her career was over by the time of our Civil War, but her legend lived on, and she was</span><span> said to have done her</span><span> <b>Spider Dance</b></span><span> in the mining camps. Doing the dance, she darted about in short petticoats, as if all crawled over with tarantulas, giving kicks and wiggles that entranced her male audience.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did I say “ex-Queen of Bavaria”? A slight exaggeration; she was<b> queen in all but name.</b> An Irish-born dancer who did Spanish dances, Eliza Gilbert (1821-1861) had already had a tempestuous continental career (affairs with Franz Liszt and others) when she performed in Bavaria in 1846. <b> King Ludwig</b> became so infatuated with her that he made her his mistress and gave her a title and a handsome annuity. But her influence on the king, and her arrogance and outbursts of temper, alienated the public. When the revolution of 1848 broke out, the king had to abdicate, and Lola fled the country.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was during an Australian tour in 1855-1856 that she entertained miners at the gold diggings with her notorious <b>Spider Dance</b>, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see her total lack of underclothing. The Australian press was outraged, but when an editor gave her a bad review, she attacked him with a whip.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Lola_Montez_Caricature_Departure_for_America.jpg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="File:Lola Montez Caricature Departure for America.jpg" data-file-height="526" data-file-width="760" decoding="async" height="276" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Lola_Montez_Caricature_Departure_for_America.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">A caricature of Lola Montez departing for America, circa 1852.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Subsequent efforts to revive her career were not successful, and her later life in the US was quiet. She reminisced with those who had known her in her wild days, but those days were over. Stricken with tertiary syphilis, she wasted away and died in 1861 at age 42. Buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, she has a tombstone giving her name as “Mrs. Eliza Gilbert,” that being her name (minus the “Mrs.”) at birth.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">If legend, erroneously, has Lola Montez doing her Spider Dance in the American West, she should have performed it there, for she is the ultimate in wild women, even if her West was the goldfields of Australia. But what made her tick? A savage need to be noticed? A sensuality so keen that it had to express itself, no matter what the cost? A touch of the self-destructive? One wonders. But at least </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">she had her fling -- a glorious one -- and is featured at length in Wikipedia today. So honored, may her soul be at rest.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wild women of the West — at least, assertive and unconventional ones — appear in the novels and short stories of <b>Henry James</b>. Featured in “The Siege of London” is the aptly-named Mrs.<b> </b>Headway, who has been married and divorced in the West so many times that at one point even her sister didn’t know who she was married to. Is she respectable? That’s what a young English baronet wants to know. Fascinated by her but ignorant of American society, he wants to marry her, but needs reassurance that she is respectable. In the end she triumphs. He proposes, and she is a raging success in English society, entertaining everyone with her tales of crazy doings in the American West.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">James was probably the first writer to popularize the<b> American girl</b>, whether of the East or West. She was independent with a mind of her own, adventurous, well-meaning, full of spunk. I observed this during my two Fulbright years in France long ago. The French girls had their appeal, too, but it was different. The American girls always won me over, and we shared a rich and very American sense of humor as well. They were spunky, lively, full of laughs. I was there to learn French, but I found time for them as well. I had to. They were fun.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-684081688938176904.post-50433895766979319202021-09-12T08:20:00.000-04:002021-09-12T08:20:27.812-04:00525. The Art of Selling<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> </b><span><b> <span> </span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Art of Selling</span></b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px;"><b></b><br /></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYO2QR3wjMRciHyYU-OyFS3RlvAa9iTindjNlZyMuKfOGLdZoRRBT87br_84EAOiJ-V25PZuCRV1EpbxakHRMtaz0kcsMqWwH-4YpkjLXedD2fuQWSbXkw4WNjBsQuzM9BH_fILiRsXGZ/s2048/20180602_095128-2.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYO2QR3wjMRciHyYU-OyFS3RlvAa9iTindjNlZyMuKfOGLdZoRRBT87br_84EAOiJ-V25PZuCRV1EpbxakHRMtaz0kcsMqWwH-4YpkjLXedD2fuQWSbXkw4WNjBsQuzM9BH_fILiRsXGZ/w480-h640/20180602_095128-2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Silas and me at BookCon 2018</span><br /><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Having exhibited at five New York book fairs, two of which ran for two days, I’ve accumulated a lot of wisdom (or pseudo wisdom) about selling to the public. I was selling books, but much of it can apply to selling anything. Here is what I’ve learned.</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Be visible.</b> If you can choose, be on an aisle so that visitors will be channeled toward you. Avoid wide open spaces. (This goes for any exhibit hall or fair.)</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Show your stuff</b>. Make your product visible, too. For me, that meant having my books sitting upright or in a book rack, not all lying flat.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Tell them what you're selling</b>. Display a big sign describing your product. Mine said NEW YORK STORIES.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Smile</b>. Frowns or deadpan looks repel.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Gimmicks don't sell. </b>Gimmicks –– free bookmarks, flashing lights, funny signs, etc. -– get attention but don’t sell books. Properly presented, your product sells itself. I showed a series of funny signs; attendees watched with a smile, but not one came to my stand and bought.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Smile</b>.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Be prepared for show-offs and attention-getters. </b> Among the attendees will be people who are there to display themselves, not to buy. At BookCon at the Javits Center I saw young women in flaring skirts right out of <i>Gone with the Wind</i>, and one who was masked and garbed all in black. Also a grinning troll. </span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Stand when they approach</b>. Sitting, you won't sell.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Say hello, but nothing more. </b>Don't push.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Smile</b>.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Have a short spiel handy</b>. If they ask about your product, make them yearn for it, feel incomplete without it.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Don’t haggle</b>. Stick to your stated price. But offering a second item at a discount is fine</span></li><li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Be prepared for weirdos. </b>There will always be a few. In my case, one who was all hopped up on meth or heroin, and another who talked grandly but vaguely of his "project" -- never fully described -- and wanted to involve me in it. Just quietly get rid of them as soon as you can.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Don't scream, gnash your teeth, scowl, or otherwise show displeasure.</b> When, after looking at your product and chatting with you, they put it down and walk away without buying, try to look cheerful, poised, serene. We've all examined a product of some kind<i> </i>and then put it back without buying. It's all part of the game.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Don't believe the "bebacks."</b> If they leave saying they’ll be back, nod graciously<b> </b>but don’t believe it. One in ten will return. Maybe they’ve forgotten your location, or maybe, having spent time with you without buying, they’re embarrassed.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Smile</b>.</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Don't be discouraged</b>. When the fair ends, you won't have sold as many items as you had hoped. You never will. So what? You did your best, had some fun (fairs are always fun), and can learn from your mistakes.</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">An artist friend of mine who exhibits his paintings at the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit tells me, “I get so <b>tired </b>of smiling.” A real pro, he knows to be discreet, never pushy. But when I lose a sale, it’s only a matter of a twenty-dollar book at most; if he fails to sell a painting, several hundred dollars is involved. For him, the stakes are high. But recently in one weekend he sold <b>fifteen</b> paintings. He thinks it may be a loosening up in buyers, as the pandemic -- we hope -- winds down.</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Have any of you ever tried to sell to the public? If so, tell me all about it.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">© 2021 Clifford Browder</span></p>Clifford Browderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00387507894227214750noreply@blogger.com0