Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Syria is Sickening.
It's probably tactically impossible but I wish we could send a SEAL team to wipe out Syria's power elite and stop the ongoing massacre of Syrian civilians.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
What Moves!
I'm watching on PBS International Latin Ballroom Dance competition. The kinetic beauty, the sculpture in motion of the dancers I find so thrilling and visually striking to sit here and watch. I only wish I could be in the live audience. I could watch this forever: the human body so much a hypnotic avatar of fluid geometry in tandem with stunning sexuality.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Waiting for Godot.
The below is an extract of an email I yesterday wrote one of my closest friends, Mitchell Landsberg, a veteran staff writer for the Los Angeles Times: I was trying to explain why I hadn't phoned him in several weeks. I short, my new, second book manuscript has been at my publisher (PublishAmerica, Baltimore) for more than six weeks. I have heard zero from them; they haven't, understandably answered my queries; and my obsessive need to get a rejection or acceptance has left me unable--or unwilling--to do anything else but wait.
I suspect thousands of book writers go through this for months at a time, and I commend their strength and patience. I have, and try ignore, myriad outlandish fantasies of what may have happened to my ms, "Clovis Diary--Welcome to the Ghetto."
I suspect thousands of book writers go through this for months at a time, and I commend their strength and patience. I have, and try ignore, myriad outlandish fantasies of what may have happened to my ms, "Clovis Diary--Welcome to the Ghetto."
"Clovis Diary" is a seriocomic look at my highly idiosyncratic, low-income, multiracial, multiethnic neighborhood--the Ghetto--here in otherwise white, affluent, Protestant, conservative Clovis, Calif., a showcase city of 100,000 in our state's vast irrigated desert midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles."
Anyway, Mitchell, mensch that he is, called me back out of concern within a few hours of getting my email. The long talk we had much lifted my mood about my book and for that I thank him no end.
EXCERPT FROM MY EMAIL TO Mitchell:
I've been wanting to talk with you in general but now keep
putting off calling you because I've lapsed into a reactive-depressive funk over
still not hearing from my publisher after six weeks, which I know is stupid
because the firm has hundreds of new manuscripts to evaluate at any given
time--still, I wait for the phone to ring, check my email five times a day and
scamper to my mailbox daily hoping for a letter.
Problem is: I don't want to do anything but wait; I don't want to write, read
and do all the other things that make me feel happy and productive. I'm normally
quite patient about waiting to hear from literary agents and publishers, but
this time I feel some pounding urgency to hear about my Clovis ms so that if
rejected I can start the arduous hunt for another publisher; if accepted, I can
begin a new book project.
If my mood doesn't change in the coming weeks, I may have my shrink boost my
Prozac dosage.
But enough babbling. We'll talk soon.
Love, Eric
Anyway, Mitchell, mensch that he is, called me back out of concern within a few hours of getting my email. The long talk we had much lifted my mood about my book and for that I thank him no end.
EXCERPT FROM MY EMAIL TO Mitchell:
I've been wanting to talk with you in general but now keep
putting off calling you because I've lapsed into a reactive-depressive funk over
still not hearing from my publisher after six weeks, which I know is stupid
because the firm has hundreds of new manuscripts to evaluate at any given
time--still, I wait for the phone to ring, check my email five times a day and
scamper to my mailbox daily hoping for a letter.
Problem is: I don't want to do anything but wait; I don't want to write, read
and do all the other things that make me feel happy and productive. I'm normally
quite patient about waiting to hear from literary agents and publishers, but
this time I feel some pounding urgency to hear about my Clovis ms so that if
rejected I can start the arduous hunt for another publisher; if accepted, I can
begin a new book project.
If my mood doesn't change in the coming weeks, I may have my shrink boost my
Prozac dosage.
But enough babbling. We'll talk soon.
Love, Eric
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
We don't need Pakistan. No one does.
I am so sick of hearing U.S. officials crowing ad nauseum about how we must keep Pakistan as an ally--despite that
(1) at least half of their military-intelligence power elite hates us, had aided the Taliban and may have done a lot to hide Ben Laden from us;
(2) U.S. Navy Seals and our own intelligence community gave us Ban Laden, not the Pakistanis,despite our giving them nearly $2 billion a year in military aid;
(3) a military dictatorship rules Pakistan, it's civilian government is an impotent showpiece;
(4) Pakistan is NOT strategically located vis a vis our national security--neither China nor Russia wants deeply troubled Pakistan as an alley--in fact, it is, to quote a former secretary of state, the world's greatest "migraine headache";
(5) Pakistan is not a threat to India--our truly most important ally in Southwest Asia and a bona fide democracy--which would in the event of war crush Pakistan in seconds;
(6) Pakistan has nuclear weapons--which we could take out with a few Navy Seal teams or the kind of air strikes the Israelis used to destroy Irag's nuclear potential in the 1980s.
In short, let's end our no-yield love-hate relationship with Pakistan now and let the Pakistanis determine their own future. Clearly, we don't need them, and they don't need us.
(1) at least half of their military-intelligence power elite hates us, had aided the Taliban and may have done a lot to hide Ben Laden from us;
(2) U.S. Navy Seals and our own intelligence community gave us Ban Laden, not the Pakistanis,despite our giving them nearly $2 billion a year in military aid;
(3) a military dictatorship rules Pakistan, it's civilian government is an impotent showpiece;
(4) Pakistan is NOT strategically located vis a vis our national security--neither China nor Russia wants deeply troubled Pakistan as an alley--in fact, it is, to quote a former secretary of state, the world's greatest "migraine headache";
(5) Pakistan is not a threat to India--our truly most important ally in Southwest Asia and a bona fide democracy--which would in the event of war crush Pakistan in seconds;
(6) Pakistan has nuclear weapons--which we could take out with a few Navy Seal teams or the kind of air strikes the Israelis used to destroy Irag's nuclear potential in the 1980s.
In short, let's end our no-yield love-hate relationship with Pakistan now and let the Pakistanis determine their own future. Clearly, we don't need them, and they don't need us.
Welcome Readers and Friends
Welcome to my first blog. I'm new to this form of social communication, but I'm already excited about finally, albeit belatedly, joining the universe of blogging.
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