Smiling Through Bad Weather

I do not normally read, or review, children’s books because I am not a child, I have no children, and I principally appreciate children as metaphors or plot devices. My loss, I know, but there you have it.

However, recently a story, written for children, came to my attention which so astutely captured the function of stories that I would be stupid not to mention it. Captain Devin and His Little Red Boat is the Continue reading Smiling Through Bad Weather

It Could Get Worse

So in Splinterlands, the very unusual novel by John Feffer,  the world has fallen to tribalism. We’re not talking about Brexit or the dissolution of Yugoslavia; we’re talking about the Walloons of South Brussels at war with the Flemish of North Brussels and the Independent Nation of Vermont and New Hampshire. It is the war of all against all, and, yes, somebody’s making a profit.

Continue reading It Could Get Worse

Trouble in the Nation’s Capital City. Enjoy!

There once was a Mayor of a great American City who was so feral, so clever and devious and charismatic, that he could commit crimes in plain sight — even go to jail — without losing his electoral mojo. He succeeded because he managed to convince his constituency, who were of the same ethnic identity and color as he was, and who were the majority in his town, that he was their protector and friend. Continue reading Trouble in the Nation’s Capital City. Enjoy!