Continued Confessions

as life goes on

The fact that I am sitting down to my laptop on Thursday morning to type this missive indicates that indeed life does go on. But honestly it’s becoming harder and harder to comprehend why. Sometimes I decide that it is because I’m too old to embrace the marvelous technology, but at other times it really does seem that the world is becoming rather more hateful.

The New Yorker magazine covers often reflect exactly how I am feeling, and my December 16th issue just arrived with Santa emerging from the subway and his red coat is the only bright spot in a sea of darkness (“A Seasonal Delivery” by artist Eric Drooker). This season from Thanksgiving through the New Year is associated with celebratory parties and conviviality. But as I told the hairdresser the other day as he removed my excess locks, I find it annoying to be told to be jolly. My actual nature all year long is one of optimism so please don’t feel you have to remind me to have a happy.

Okay, done with that part. Now on to something else interesting (at least to me). I still subscribe to the digital New York Times, and this morning there was a Guest Essay in the Opinion Section by Simon Parkin. The title of the essay is “Read This Before Buying That Video Game” and I recognized the author’s name from having read some of his books quite a while ago. So I dove into the article and it was quite interesting, but what I am writing about this morning is the fact that in the bio at the end of the article there was only one book listed (probably his latest which I haven’t read) as well as the fact that he is host of “My Perfect Console,” an interview podcast about video games. I personally have read three of his books, and not one of them was listed, even the totally pertinent Death by Video Game from 2015, which was his first book. The other two Parkin books in my collection are A Game of Birds and Wolves (2020) and The Island of Extraordinary Captives (2022), both of which deal with World War II (and the island mentioned is my childhood home of the Isle of Man), Anyway, what got me thinking this morning is that there is now so much information available to everyone about so many subjects that it is really hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. All of the Parkin material I mention here is non-fiction and very factual with incredible notes and bibliographies. In fact, he is “an award-winning British journalist and author” according to the jacket blurbs from these older books.

And speaking of books, I had to remove the dust jacket from my current morning read because the sight of Steve Jobs’ piercing glare first thing was more than I could take. In fact, I am wavering about finishing the book, but Walter Isaacson does such a good job with the history that I think I’ll carry on. I also found out that Walter is extremely accomplished in his own right and has written many wonderful biographies and been involved with the Aspen Institute think tank.

Meanwhile, Maura Casey of Casey’s Catch here on Substack reminded us all the other day that the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT has yet to be published. I refer you to her excellent post from December 9th for more details. Who knew that American women were still not equal?

So as I stumble through another day I’m extremely grateful for the solidarity I find here as well as from all my personal darlings. Power to the People!

RESIST ALWAYS

TTFN