Content 18+ I went out on the balcony, and suddenly I saw that stars are visible here… for me, being born in a small town squeezed between the sandy desert and steppe vastness fuelled by oil underneath, the view of the night sky full of stars was something common and familiar. I used to dream of them, trying to guess if there is a life out there. Soon after my … Read the rest
Category: Journalism
That Raspberry Face
Content 18+ I can remember my undergraduate days more than a half century ago and sitting with friends until the wee hours having philosophical discussions about things like 'God'. The memory grows fuzzy, but it seems to me that we gave God at least a 50-50 chance of existing. Maybe, mixed in with the residue of an upbringing that took the reality of Heaven and Hell for granted, we were … Read the rest
Incorrigible Jokesters
Content 18+ I have just finished a splendid old book by the famous Czech author Milan Kundera called in English The Joke. Kundera is a master writer, of course, not a pamphleteer or agenda-pusher, and so when I say that I was much struck by the similarities between the characters in the novel and those of the 'postmodern' 'Woke' Society, I am not pushing an agenda either.
I mean to … Read the rest
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Deal With It !)
Content 21+ Mercifully, I live in Europe so I am spared — aside from what I masochistically choose to read on the various sites — the usual avalanche of American nonsense about the Christmas Holidays — and yes, I continue to refer to them pointedly as such: The Christmas Holidays.
Thanksgiving has just finished and I feel safe in imagining that millions of American people celebrated joyously in the customary … Read the rest
How Much Hair Do You Want In Your Soup?
I sometimes wonder if eventually, we will arrive at a completely hairless civilization. I mean, think of all the cartoons and caricatures you’ve seen depicting the ‘advanced’ people of the future. Shrunken of body, their globular heads stand out like huge melons, which of course — like most melons — are completely bald. The idea is to suggest a vast intelligence throbbing inside the glimmering fruit.
Think of all the … Read the rest
The Shadowy Task Of Shedding The Mask
Content 21+ (explicit content) Sometime back in the day, I heard of a book (cynically) entitled “How to Pick Up a Feminist”. I thought it was funny. I had just come back from Europe and enrolled at FSU for yet another attempt at finally finishing off my doctoral program, and I was doing creative writing for my degree. (The ‘dissertation’ turned out to be a body of my own poetry.) … Read the rest
Two Saints: Paul and Augustine, 1967
Content 21+ It was my first plane ride, and the stewardesses had no choice but to be beautiful back in those days; it was part of the job. Even now, I can see the reason. It was to inspire confidence. Aviation was not as safe then as it supposedly is now. I have never looked at the statistics, but I do know — from my grandfather’s own account — that … Read the rest
The Night I Won the Welterweight Title of the World
Content advisory 18+ I once saw a film called "Field of Dreams" which involved a man hearing a voice in a cornfield that told him what to do -- which he did -- and what happened as a result. The idea behind it was simple but profound: how can we find the past again and correct it? Or maybe better would be to ask, "How can we HEAL the past?"… Read the rest
The Sin of Men with White Skin
Content advisory 18+ You know, I read a lot of blogs posted by authors great and small, coming from all directions. One source in particular, which I won't mention by name but which in fact does publish some excellent stuff, also seems to be a haven for hard-line feminists and various other typoids and assorted specimens lumbered with a lot of sexual preference issues. Gender is a big, big … Read the rest
Not Size Zero
Content advisory 18+ In a world where we are more particular about appearances than reality, the unrealistic projection of an ideal body has amounted to a long-drawn obsession. However, it is a problem that is now being somewhat addressed as saner minds apparently prevail. Celebrities have spoken up about being “body-shamed” and “fat-shamed” and about eating disorders. The public has shunned photoshopped bodies to the degree of absurdity and appears … Read the rest
A Dummy’s Course In Deceit
Content advisory 18+ A guy was explaining to me once how to tell the perfect lie. He said it with a straight face and matter-of-fact expression, almost as if he were expounding on how you can pack the most clothes into a suitcase or the most groceries into one plastic bag at a supermarket.
Inspired by my strict moral upbringing in the Christian Church (hahaha), I felt it my duty … Read the rest
The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth
Content advisory 18+ Have you ever been falsely accused of doing something bad that you positively and absolutely didn't do? How did you feel? Especially when there was no way to change the minds of those who were accusing you?
It's happened to me a few times, and I can assure you that I was outraged. In fact, I have little doubt that my violent reaction to such injustice was … Read the rest
Magical Facades
Content advisory 16+ Time after time, I find myself watching various talent shows – America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, the X – factors, the Idols, the Voice and others. While seemingly quite an unfulfilling way to pass the time, I tune in every time, and, truth be told, stand in awe of their talent. How little Darci Lynn could be such an amazing ventriloquist at just 12 years of … Read the rest
Canned Laughter (and other falsifications)
Content advisory 18+ When I was a kid back in America and would watch the sit-coms on TV (which now leads me to reflect "Did I HAVE a life?"), I was always struck by the laughter that would erupt in the background every time someone said something that was supposed to be funny. Didn't matter if it actually WAS funny -- the knee-slapping merry-makers in the television studio ("coming to … Read the rest
DONNY and VLAD: Post Mortems of Helsinki
Content advisory 18+ The off-the-charts hullabaloo after Helsinki (Donny and Vlad) has gotten so ridiculous that I once more feel compelled to seize my figurative pen and get to work. The problem is that the folks who most need to read what I have to say here simply won’t — because the kind of American trolls who soil cyberspace with their dim-witted posts don’t know how to absorb much beyond … Read the rest
World Cup: Great Party (but some unwanted guests)
Content advisory 18+ Although the 2018 World Cup can now be placed in the file of Yesterday's News (and what is deader than the headlines of the day before the day before ?), it is worth a brief look back simply as a way of saying goodbye-to-all-that.
And no matter what your take on sports in general might be-- and regardless of your politics -- I think that only the … Read the rest
How I Deal with the Poor
Content advisory 18+ I just caught Adrita's article about beggars in India. I can only imagine what a nightmare it must be in places like that. Of course, the homeless and hapless are everywhere and must be dealt with one way or the other. As with the prison system, the question involves the push-pull between blame and compassion. Should we despise beggars or try to help them? I used to … Read the rest
Poverty? Beggars in India
Content advisory 14+ We encounter them every day, we see right through them as if they are invisible, walk past them silently without acknowledging their incessant calls. Yes, I am talking about the beggars on the streets of India.
We all have mixed emotions when it comes to beggars. When I was young, I was taught to be kind and giving. When I was around eight, one day I was … Read the rest
The Only One Who Knows
Content advisory 18+ Without ever having been a surfer, I remember watching a film a long time ago about surfing. It was called ''The Endless Summer" and it showed (endlessly) the magnificent, bronzed guy surfers (Wow !-- if only I were gay !!!) as they sat on the waves, dipping and slanting at just the precise instant, simultaneously gliding, dictating terms to the sea, and then being abruptly devoured, violently … Read the rest
End of the Rainbow: Glory but no Gold
Content advisory 16+ So Russia's definitely glorious and decidedly improbable run at the World Cup came to an end last night, via the usual route in the later stages of this event: Penalties. But what can we say about it? The way FIFA has it set up, there is no other method available to conclude drawn matches , and, after 120 minutes, who will attest that they want another 30 … Read the rest