(from the archives)
I’ve been reading Martin Cruz Smith again – “Gorky Park” and “Polar Star”. It’s a fascinating snapshot of another country at another time, and the contrast of that vision throws the realities of our own time and place into sharp relief.
The great boast of the Soviet Union was that it was a Worker’s Paradise. Everyone (more…)
(From the archives)
Some thirty-five years ago, a particularly brilliant Czechoslovakian dissident named Vaclav Havel wrote an essay entitled “Power of the Powerless”. The subject matter was a thoughtful and timely dissection of certain paradoxical behaviors required by society in order for a person to prosper under the post-totalitarian regime then in power. Unsurprisingly, the (more…)
This is a copy of my permanent menu instructions page. I copied it here because — heck, someone else trying to comment on a different WordPress might want to know this too. If it’s helpful, feel free to Share or pass it around, but please — don’t copy and paste. I’m an impoverished writer; I live on distilled compliments, and if you copy my work I don’t get the credit. (Plus I’ll come after you and do mean things, and we can’t be having with that.)
It should be easy to leave a comment here on WordPress, (more…)
