Where are heroes born? Grandpa, Jesus, Indiana Jones. I missed that step as a kid, I skip that part today—no one I admire, no one to emulate. No one to let me down. A personal deficiency, an omission of character Never installed by my parents, instilled by my teachers. Irreverence fueled by neurodivergent contempt. My … Continue reading Hero Worship
Vonnegut
The Ugliest Trees in the World
Twenty years ago, my friend Doug admonished me. “You always speak in superlatives—slowest, meanest, hottest.” He didn’t follow up with any reason why I shouldn’t, so here we are today, the ugliest trees in the world. They sit just outside my neighborhood. Across rural route 116 bordering the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. Seven of them line … Continue reading The Ugliest Trees in the World
Vonnegut
“Any man who cannot support himself by doing a job better than a machine is employed by the government.” This is a bit of dialogue from Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano—his sardonic, dystopian view of a socialist future society. The future: circa 1960 because Player Piano was published in 1952. This quote has nothing … Continue reading Vonnegut
The Other Stuff 