Another Chicago Writer

A Different Sun – A must read!

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 21:19:00 +0000

Elaine Neil Orr’s debut novel, A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa, is a grand achievement, indeed.

I first encountered Orr’s fiction in early 2009 when I reviewed the Winter 2008 issue of Shenandoah, in which her story “Tennis Lessons” appeared. I found this story to be penetrating, nuanced, and richly detailed. A few months later, I had the good fortune to meet Ms. Orr when she joined the faculty of Spalding University’s MFA in Writing program, where I was then working on earning my MFA. Let me assure you that the fact that I got to know and admire her has no influence upon my impressions of her novel.

Other readers have noted that A Different Sun is adventuresome and gripping, with life and death stakes – they are correct, this novel is one that you will find impossible to put down. The story concerns a young, Southern girl, Emma, who we first encounter in 1840, in Antebellum Georgia. Emma falls in love with marries Henry, a missionary twenty years her senior, and travels with him to Nigeria, to help him with his missionary work – introducing Christ to the Africans.

The novel brilliantly illustrates the challenges that arise from the vast differences in culture and climate between the American South and the completely different landscape of Africa and its people. And while this exploration is compelling and fascinating, the heart of the novel is as moving and trenchant an exploration of the institution of marriage I’ve encountered in modern literature. The soaring highs and the deeply painful lows that accompany many (if not all) marriages are rendered in exquisite detail and depth in Orr’s prose.

I couldn’t put this book down and I am eager to read it again, after taking a little time to linger in its glow.

Get this book. Read it. You won’t regret it.

Namaste.

Brian Russell

Where is the adult leadership?

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Chicagoans – and most specifically, parents and students in the Chicago Public School (CPS) system – have been shocked in recent days by the announcement that CPS intends to close 54 underperforming schools. The announced closures seem to be concentrated in some of the majority African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods of Chicago and this fact rightly has many people asking important questions about what the role of race and/or racism might have been in the compilation of this closure list. I get that. Makes sense to at least ask these difficult questions. And yet – and yet, I must clearly express my outrage at Karen Lewis, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, for several of her childish and silly statements at a rally yesterday that will clarify the title of this blog.

As reported by WBEZ’s education reporter, Linda Lutton, Karen Lewis said the following to the assembled protesters yesterday: "So lemme tell you what you’re gonna do. On the first day of school, you show up at your real school! You show up at your real school! Don’t let these people take your schools!" This union “leader” is calling on elementary students to show up at their “real” schools? Really? These are children we are talking about. Where is the adult leadership here? Flanking Ms. Lewis was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, signaling his apparent support of her outrageously irresponsible call to action.

The closure of 54 out of roughly 600 schools is certainly a significant development and understandably one that can be expected to engender emotional responses and passionate questioning, but asking children to go to their “real schools” after they’ve been closed strikes me as deeply irresponsible and childish, at best.

These schools are going to close, Ms. Lewis.

The mayor has made that clear, as has CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

As a leader of the Teachers Union, you should be working on solutions, not suggesting that children – children! – be relied upon for acts of civil disobedience.

Let me be clear. This is not an anti-Union screed. I am not only a big fan of unions, I am a member of more than one.

This is a call for adult leadership and adult behavior.

Chicago’s students and taxpayers deserve more from our leaders.

Namaste.

Brian

Random thoughts in early 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:21:00 +0000

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. Since September 12^th last year, to be precise. Since then, the President has been reelected, the fiscal cliff has been avoided (in an ugly and completely incomplete way) and we have turned the page on a New Year.

The Mayans were apparently mistaken (or simply ran out of room on the tablet on which they were creating their calendar – that’s my guess).

So far this year I have drafted what I intend to be a Letter to the Editor regarding what I think our legislators should do about Social Security reforms (short form: raise the cap on wages that are subject to FICA taxes) and I’ve drafted a letter to my father that I plan to send via the good ole’ US Mail tomorrow. That letter is an attempt to explain some things that appeared in a published piece last summer that upset him and an attempt to reset our relationship. We’ll see if it works.

It seems as if things in Washington are (predictably) a mess, and so there’s not really all that much to say about that, although I do applaud President Obama for nominating former Senator Chuck Hagel for the Secretary of Defense. I think he’s a good man, and as a former soldier, someone who understands what it means to send young men and women to war.

John Kerry is a shoe-in for Secretary of State, and I think that is a good thing as well. I think he’s well prepared for the job, and if both nominees are confirmed it will be the first time that we will have Vietnam vets serving as Secretaries of State and Defense, which I think would be great!

On the home front, Gloria has returned to work at the Steve Harvey show. I spent some time today negotiating about a re-edit that we need to do for a corporate client’s video that we did late last year. And I am continuing to look for work. And continuing to write. Or, at least draft.

It is early in 2013, too early to surmise what this year might bring. Today I received a very nice, very empathetic rejection from a University to whom I had applied for a job teaching Creative Non-Fiction Writing. I’d prefer not to have been rejected, of course, but it was a nice rejection email.

Earlier this year, just a couple of days ago, I received the print copy of the inaugural edition of Penumbra Magazine, in which my essay, Ramon, appears, and if that’s not a nice happy start to a New Year, I don’t know what is. So that’s good.

Whatever it is you are pursuing, my wish for you is this: Pursue your dreams with passion, commitment, and drive. Never give up. Never say no. Never say, “I can’t do this anymore.” Yes, you can. You can.

I write those words as much (perhaps more) for myself as I do for you.

Namaste.

Brian

Thoughts on the DNC convention...

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:21:00 +0000

NOTE: Some of you may have already seen this on facebook last week. That evening, Sept. 5, something was going wrong with my blog, so I couldn't post it here, as I had intended. It seems all is now recovered, and I'm putting it up on the blog. More to come soon...

We have a major choice facing us in almost exactly two months. Will we reelect Barack Obama or will we elect Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan?

We all know the economy is struggling. We understand that while we are technically no longer in recession that jobs are growing at too slow a pace and home values are being slow to increase.

But, what do we do now?

Do we throw the Current Occupant out because he hasn’t solved all the problems in this country or do we give him a little more time to try to do so? How quickly should we expect any president to solve a problem that was 8 years in the making?

Here’s the thing: This president inherited the worst economy since FDR in the Great Depression and yet he’s turned around the hemorrhaging of jobs. We are growing this economy now, it is no longer shrinking. Is it fast enough? No, it’s not fast enough for anyone, but it’s going in the right direction.

He passed health care reform that Presidents – both Republican and Democrat – have fought for for 70 plus years. It’s here now. And, it’s making a difference. Millions of young people who are no longer denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, millions more who are able to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are 26. Soon, NONE of us will be denied for pre-existing conditions, and lifetime caps will be a thing of the past.

These things matter.

These things count.

Bill Clinton spoke forcefully and powerfully tonight at the DNC convention, attempting to make a case for why Barack Obama deserves four more years as our President. I think he hit it out of the park. When we look back at the last 50+ years, by every measure, our country has done better economically under Democrat presidents than under Republican presidents – those are the facts. And, there’s a simple reason: Democrats believe, I believe, that we grow the economy best from the middle out and the bottom up, NOT the top down. It works. It is proven. More jobs are created, Wall Street does better, Main Street does better. Our Veterans are more cared for.

Now is the time to choose. And, it is critically important that we all cast our votes. Whomever you vote for, what’s most important is that you vote. This is what democracy is all about.

Bill Clinton pointed out tonight that Mr. Obama appointed several Republicans to his cabinet, and several rivals, including Hilary Clinton, whom he appointed Secretary of State. This underscores and illustrates what’s great about our country. As Bill Clinton said, “Democracy is not a blood sport.” We have a healthy, vigorous competition and then we get on with the business of governing. Or at least that’s how it should be.

The Republicans haven’t been very interested in that these past few years. Since 2010 their singular goal has been to, in the words of Mitch McConnell, “make sure that Obama is a one-term president.” That’s not leading. That’s obstructionism. And it is un-American.

I was no fan of George W. Bush, but I never rooted for his failure, because I could never root for America’s failure. That’s the difference. I didn’t like Bush. I didn’t vote for him. But, he was my President, and my hope was that he would succeed. That he didn’t (in some important respects) will be recorded in the history books.

But, even when there was a President of the United States that I did not support, I never hoped he would fail. That’s the difference between then and now. As I see it.

Namaste.

One Significant Value of Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 05:28:00 +0000

The last several days in my immediate family have been challenging ones, characterized by a frightening accident, a call to 911, and too much time spent in a hospital. While I will not go into the details of the accident, the hospitalization, etc., in this post, I want to, rather, reflect on the value of fiction writing in our lives.

When unexpected, or surprising events occur, we are often confronted with fundamental questions about how we are living our lives, what really matters, and so on. Earlier this evening, I began reading Anne Lamott’s 2010 novel, Imperfect Birds, and although I’m only 62 pages into it at this point, it is proving to me one of the most important reasons that fiction matters in our hyper social-network driven world.

Fiction, good fiction, reminds us that we all live complicated and mixed-bag lives. We all struggle with questions of identity, of our places in the world, of whether or not we are doing what we should do, or were meant to do, and the like. Good fiction – and, Imperfect Birds is absolutely in that category – reminds us of our shared imperfections, our shared continual quest to figure out how best to navigate this gift (that sometimes feels like a curse) we’ve been given called life. By recognizing the humanity and the faults and the glories and the foibles in fictional characters, we are (if we are lucky) able to take a step back to reexamine our own lives and ask: Well, maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world that I did x, y, or z? Perhaps I can forgive myself – perhaps I can forgive my mother, father, brother, sister, lover, spouse – for doing something that was hurtful, childish, annoying, or, rude?

Early in this novel a character suggests that perhaps we are living in “the sixth day,” evoking the creation story. In other words, perhaps God is not quite done. We are here already… we are living in this environment that He (or She) created, but it is not yet time for God to rest. Because the work is not yet done. I like this idea. I like it a lot. It almost provides an answer to those questions many of us so often ask: “How could a loving and caring God allow (fill-in-the-blank) to happen?” Well, maybe it’s because the job’s not quite done yet. Maybe we are all living in the sixth day.

Each of us will encounter unexpected challenges throughout our lives, and each of us will have a moment (or more) of feeling shell-shocked that whatever happened just happened. A close friend dies or is seriously injured or is diagnosed with cancer; a simple misstep leads to days in the hospital and weeks of recovery and pain; the dog you are walking lunges after a rat and pulls you down to a painful fall in the process. These things happen. They do.

Good fiction reminds us that we are not alone in this fate. We are all susceptible to the whims and fancies of… whatever one might wish to call it. Fate? God’s will? Bad luck? Good luck? The point is, stuff happens. Our job is to learn from it when it does. Our job is to recognize the humanity in one another. Our job is to empathize and listen and learn and take heed. Because tomorrow, it may well be me or you or the other person reading these scribblings who is caught by surprise and suddenly learns that stuff happens. Whenever, wherever.

We persevere. We go on, as Beckett notably observed. We adjust, learn, recalibrate.

Fiction helps remind us that we are not alone in the doing. Fiction creates a safe space in which we can face the scary realities we may well have to face in our own lives when we are least prepared for it, because, let’s face it – that’s when they come.

So, cheers and thank you to the great fiction writers of the world. And, while I’m at it, cheers and thank you to the great nonfiction writers of the world, because they often can (and do) achieve the same purpose. (I almost wrote porpoise, by the way… just a side note.)

Cheers, writers! You tell stories that remind us of our shared humanity; of our strengths, our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, and our charms. You remind us that we are all on this crazy trek together – like it or not.

This evening, as bedtime nears, I look forward to reading a few more pages of Imperfect Birds, and then climbing into bed with my lovely wife and thanking whomever for all the blessings of our lives. Hardships happen – of course – but they are not the whole of existence. They are bumps in the road. We move on, persevere, keep writing our own stories, and, embrace what is, and what’s next.

Namaste.

It’s Getting Cold Out There (Here)

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:36:00 +0000

Those of us who live in northern climes are starting to feel it. The chill in the air, the extremely early sunset, even some flurries beginning to fall.

It’s getting cold out there.

But it’s getting cold in other ways, as well. Cities across the country are starting to crack down on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests that have sprung up all over the country – and, indeed the world. It’s also true that the Arab League has suspended the country of Syria from their ranks for their brutal, murderous response to protestors in that country. That is a “cold” that I welcome.

Here in the U.S. we are in the early phases of the 2012 presidential election. The Republicans are trying to decide whom they are going to nominate, and having a tough time doing so. First Perry was on top, then Cain, now Romney, and now Gingrich is gaining traction. The most popular Republican candidate? Anyone other than those who are running. Can’t we have Chris Christie or Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush? Not this time around, it doesn’t seem.

The current occupant, Mr. Obama, who will be running for reelection, is not enjoying great approval numbers in the polls. The latest one I saw indicated that 46% of the electorate think he’s basically doing a good job. But, it is also instructive to look at polling that indicates that Mr. Obama would beat any of the leading Republican candidates if the election were held today. The only contest he loses is against a Republican who is not running, some dream candidate who has yet to emerge from the woodwork.

“Obamacare,” as my friends on the right like to call it, is heading to the Supreme Court, and we all knew that would happen. Fine. We’ve had two appellate court decisions that upheld it as Constitutional, and one that didn’t. It will be fascinating to see what the Supremes decide on the matter. Either way, our country is going to face a clear – and, I suspect, a stark – choice in a little less than a year.

Will we decide to elect someone who wants to cater to the 1% or the 99% (to borrow the parlance of the Occupy Movement protesters)? Certainly, the Republicans are not going to be able to argue that Mr. Obama is soft on national security – after all, he has presided over more drone attacks than Mr. Bush, found and killed Osama bin Laden (and many other Al Qaeda leaders), and helped orchestrate the removal of Gaddafi from power in Libya. Mr. Obama is also fulfilling the terms of the Iraq withdrawal, negotiated by the Bush administration, and removing our troops by the end of this year.

Here’s where we are: The economy is growing – slowly. Too slowly. Unemployment remains a problem, and a significant one, but it is VERY slowly becoming slightly less of a problem. The Obama administration is trying to enact what it can to ease the burden on the unemployed or underemployed, on those who are severely burdened by student loan debt, on those whose mortgages are underwater, and on veterans who will soon be returning, looking for both work and adequate health care. Are these programs perfect? No. Are they a good start? I think so.

Many of us are hurting in our country today. I’m among them. I am fortunate to have work, but it’s not enough to make ends meet. I am “floating rope” – borrowing money from a credit card for one month to the next – in order to try to keep up with bills. There’s only so long that this kind of behavior can go on, and yet I am convinced that the answer is not to lower the corporate tax rate or to keep the Bush tax cuts in effect. How is that going to help those of us who are struggling? I keep hearing about these so-called “job-creators.” Where are the jobs that they are creating?

It is long past time to eliminate loopholes that allow corporations to park money in tax havens (such as The Netherlands, Ireland, and the Cayman Islands) to avoid paying taxes on income. No one wants confiscatory taxes, we just want fair ones. If you, corporation X, have earnings of one hundred million dollars in a given quarter, then you should pay your fair share of taxes on one hundred million dollars. I pay taxes on every penny I earn. And, I don’t earn anywhere near that much per quarter, as I’m sure will not surprise any reader of this blog.

Please don’t misunderstand what I’ve written above. I’m not about “soaking the rich” and I’m not interested in engaging in class warfare. I’m interested in our country adopting a more fair and equitable tax system. I find it alarming that when I was a boy, the average CEO made about 40 times more than the average worker at his company. (I say only his, because, back then, there were no female CEOs) Today, the average CEO makes 350 times more than the average worker at his or her company. This is obscene. Call me kooky, but is a CEO of a company really worth 350 times more than the sales staff, the very people who are ensuring the success of the company? I don’t think so.

I’m afraid I’ve gotten a bit riled up. Must be because it’s cold outside, and I’m not quite ready for winter.

The good news: I’m working. My wife is working – although for the past couple days, she’s been working so much that I haven’t seen her at all; we’ve been like ships hoping to pass in the night, but having to settle with passing in the briefest of moments in the early morning hours when we are both resting and about to get up. We are both grateful. We both love this country. We both want this country to succeed and to live up to its fullest potential.

Election season is upon us. The cold us upon us – in more ways than one. Let us rise up and meet it with thought and foresight and compassion. Let us strive to be the best Americans we can be.

Namaste

Thoughts Upon Starting a New Semester of Teaching

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:25:00 +0000

Those who are in college trying to earn a degree in order to better their lives are working hard. They are sacrificing. Some of them might not much like their classes, or at least some of the required classes, like the classes that I am very likely to be teaching. English. Essay writing. The research paper.

It’s hard for them, sometimes, to see how it’s going to matter in the future. I get it. And yet, I also know it is going to matter to them in the future.

This term, when administering a start-of-class diagnostic essay, I asked students to write about their previous experiences with English classes, writing, and/or reading (with thanks to Bob Zacny, who suggested the prompt). The results have been fascinating. Some students have written passionately about how much they HATE English classes and being told what to read and write. In fact, the finest diagnostic essay that was written was written by a young man who passionately and persuasively argued how much he hated English classes and being told what to read and write.

It was beautifully written. Passionate, clear, concise – all you would want in a well written five-paragraph essay. Now I need to figure out how to channel this young man’s passion into the assignments that he’s going to have to write on in this course. I can’t change the curriculum, but perhaps I can help make a connection, or help him make a connection to something that interests him. He’s a very good writer and I want him to learn and succeed.

Earlier this evening I was thinking about composing a blog about the “grotesque disconnect” between the Wall Street bailouts and the lack of jobs for so many in America today, and that is likely a subject I will return to, but, it seemed to me that this subject, this thinking about, “How do we effectively teach our children?” seemed somehow more important.

We need to teach our children. We need to meet them where they are, and we need to understand that they inhabit a world that is FAR different from the world in which many of us, or at least, I, grew up. I did not have the distraction of the Internet or the pleasure of the iPod when I was growing up and first enrolling in college. Nor did I have the beneficial parts of the Internet (research, hello?) when I was first in college. But, students today need to learn how to marshal these resources effectively, and they need to learn how to judge the reliability of what they are finding on the web. There are a lot of bogus websites out there.

At any rate, I’m rambling now, so should stop. I guess the point of this blog is that I think we all can write. It’s about writing about things or issues or ideas that we care about – that’s what matters. That’s what makes our writing worthwhile.

So, write. Express yourself. Even if it’s only for you to read in some distant day.

Namaste.

Thoughts On an Early Autumn Night

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:33:00 +0000

A lot of my fellow bloggers write wonderful posts that celebrate blessings and things for which to be grateful, and I am very glad they do. I also have much to be grateful for and thankful for, and I often like to write about those things; but I can’t help but point out what craziness I see in our so-called national leaders when I see it.

The Minority Leader of the United States Senate is on record as saying that his most important priority is to make sure that president Obama is a one-term president. There’s simply something – a GREAT deal of something – that’s wrong with that. (And let me be clear, if the American people decide that Mr. Obama should be a one-term president, then they’ll decide that, fine. But for a legislator – a leader, no less – to say that that’s his number one priority is unconscionable. Why? Because he was elected to serve the people, that’s why.)

How about approving emergency aid for counties and states hurt by massive flooding or hurricanes or droughts? (All of which have occurred in the past several months.) How about closing tax loopholes that allow some of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country to pay NO taxes, while they are also creating no jobs? (Nope, can’t do that. Can’t tax the ‘job creators.’ – How can they be called job creators if they are creating no jobs?)

What we are hearing in these early days of the presidential campaign is discouraging to say the least. And it is – much of it – not very connected to reality. Mr. Obama cannot blame the previous occupant (with thanks to Garrison Keillor for the term) all that much on the stump, but the fact remains that the previous occupant started two wars that weren’t paid for and pushed through congress a massive prescription drug bill that wasn’t paid for. Are those nothing? No, those are billions – nay, trillions – of dollars! And, we wonder why we have such a debt problem now? Never before in the history of this country has our citizenry been asked to go to war without making a concomitant sacrifice. Never before.

But in the 2000’s, we were told to “go out and shop.” There’s leadership for you. We should go shop?

How about the people fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan? How about those soldiers who lack the body armor and other equipment they need? (Or, needed?) How does our shopping help them?

I, a self-proclaimed fiscally conservative social liberal, think it’s time we bring back the draft. If we had the draft, I doubt we’d still be in Afghanistan or Iraq. We – this country – are sending our poorest people to fight for… for, what? For ready access to oil? I get why we had to go to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, but isn’t it interesting that now that Obama has overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden and some 15-20 other Al Queda leaders, the Right still doesn’t give him any credit for that? Hell, we haven’t seen so fierce a warrior as commander-in-chief since Harry Truman, who, in case you’ve forgotten, dropped 2 nuclear bombs. (Not a bad reminder that we remain the only country to have ever deployed nuclear weapons.)

I wonder how we can stop this madness. I wonder how we can reset our course. I wonder why Warren Buffet’s staff pays more, as a percentage of their income, in income taxes than he does. (He wonders the same thing, by the way.) This is nuts.

It’s time for more change. More change. More change.

Namaste.

Choices

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:26:00 +0000

Here we are – heading into a new election cycle, the Democrats against the Republicans, with perhaps a few Independents thrown in there for good measure. What are we arguing about?

National policy, to be sure. Tax policy? Check. Entitlements policy? Check. The Democrats seem to believe that heath care should be a right, not a privilege. The Republicans think otherwise, or at least that’s how it seems.

The Democrats seem to think that we should have a fairer and more balanced tax structure that ensures that the wealthiest among us and corporations are paying their fair share of taxes. The Republicans seem to think differently. Interestingly, a lot of the wealthiest Americans also think that they should be taxed at a higher rate than they currently are taxed today.

But are we to tax the so-called “job creators”? What will happen if we do? How will jobs ever be created in the good ole US of A? Well, the job creators, or at least a lot of them, are creating jobs overseas. Not here. They are also the same folks that the taxpayers have bailed out in the last several years, like Citibank and Bank of America and GE and General Motors. Where are the jobs? We saved these corporations, and what do we have to show for it now? Have you tried to refinance your mortgage lately? Good luck! (If you aren’t already facing foreclosure and potentially bankruptcy.)

So, was Obama untested, a little naïve, perhaps a little not-ready-for-prime-time when he was elected in 2008? Perhaps so. But, he’s no longer untested, no longer unready, no longer naïve. He’s learned the hard way. He tried to compromise, he tried to make nice with the other side, and they stymied him on nearly every turn. I am happy to see a more vigorous and combatant President Obama. I’m happy to see him threatening vetoes and taking his case to the nation. It’s about time, if you ask me.

We have a huge responsibility next fall: Are we going to elect another George W. Bush clone or are we going to reelect President Obama to finish the important work that he has started? Is it possible that this country would elect Sarah Palin, a woman who didn’t think it important that she completed her term as Governor of the state of Alaska, President? I don’t think so. This person doesn’t know how to finish something she starts.

I urge the American people to think long and hard about the choice facing us next year, and vote Obama.

Namaste.

It’s time to pay our bills…

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:31:00 +0000

The previous occupant took us into two wars without asking Americans to sacrifice anything, he instead asked us to go shopping. He also decided that that was a great time to enact a generous prescription drugs bill that wasn’t paid for and to cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans, those that the Republicans like to call the “job creators” these days. Well, they got the tax breaks, but they stopped creating jobs. Instead, they shipped jobs and profits (that would otherwise be taxed) overseas.

These tax-evading companies are scofflaws. They know precisely what they are doing. It’s legal. But it is wrong. They are funneling money into Ireland and Denmark and the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes on their HUGE profits, and there is no legal recourse that the United States government can take, because it’s all legal. Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right.

The United States Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 decision earlier this year in the Citizens United v. FEC case that corporations were “citizens”, and therefore entitled to the first amendment protection to free speech, specifically as it applied to political speech. Well, if they are entitled to the right of free speech as protected by the Constitution, then they are also responsible to contribute to the general Treasury.

Why is it that wealthy folks who earn most of their money from capital dividends pay only 15% on their income when most of us pay a good deal more than that, on a percentage basis? Why is it that Warren Buffet himself has balked at the fact that his secretary and the rest of his staff pay a higher percentage of they pay in taxes than Buffet (a billionaire) does? Because he thinks it is fundamentally wrong, that’s why! And, he’s right. Why should his secretary be paying 25 or 27 or 29 percent when Buffet is paying a fraction of that?

As President Obama said in his Rose Garden speech earlier today, “This is not class warfare… this is math!” Indeed.

It is math. Plain and simple. And, it’s about time we start realizing that we can’t get something for nothing. That’s what the last decade was about. We’ll fight two wars, but there will be no sacrifice. We’ll enact a generous new prescription drug benefit, but there’ll be no sacrifice. We’ll cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but there will be no sacrifice. Who is – or who did – peddle myths?

It’s time to pay our bills. And, we are all going to have to gird our loins and tighten our belts. There is an old saying, “To whom much is given, much is expected in return.” It’s time for those who have profited from our corporate-leaning tax structure and wealthy-leaning tax structure to pony up a bit more to help our country recover and rise like a Phoenix out of our current ashes.

Namaste.

Being Tested

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:21:00 +0000

We’re all tested from time to time in our lives.

The boss wants something extra quick, the kids need fill-in-the-blank, several torrential rainstorms follow one after another flooding your basement, or worse, you know, tested!

Well, it seems my wife and I are in one of those patterns again. Nothing like a hurricane or a flood, mind you. Just serious enough to demand immediate, urgent attention. The other day, one of our tenants called to say that she was smelling gas in her bedroom when she came home from work every evening, and that the back doorknob wasn’t working properly, and that the bathroom sink was draining slowly, despite their having tried Drano. “Okay, we’re on it,” I said.

It so happened that I had to teach for 8 hours the following day, so my ever-the-trooper wife took care of the drain and the doorknob and called the gas company. They came out. They found a leak. They told us that they’d fixed it, but also said that we needed to make sure that our tenants never hung anything on the gas line pipe in the closet where the meter is. So, we decided we’d install a closet rod to provide something for our tenants to hang their clothes on that wasn’t the gas line pipe.

Go to Home Depot. Get the materials. No problem.

But, while we’re installing the new closet rod we smell gas. A lot of gas. The day after the gas man was out and told us it was fixed. So, after successfully installing the new closet rod, we (my wife, actually) call the gas company again. “We’re smelling gas. Could you please come out and see what’s going on?” Turns out that there’s another leak, a second gas leak. They fixed the first yesterday and the second today.

Fortunately, no one got hurt; nothing blew up, no serious harm done. But it was a trying day nonetheless. Smelling gas while hanging a curtain rod is alarming. Knowing that there has been gas leaking into our tenants’ environments for some days, or, God forbid, weeks, is also alarming. But, here’s a shout-out to People’s Gas, who did a good job at solving the problem(s) this time. The last time we had to call them it was a nightmare, but I think I posted a blog about that then.

Meanwhile, we have been tested a bit, but we are passing. We persevere. Next up? The quickly heating up presidential campaigns. Who do you think should be nominated on the Republican side? Do you think there should be a Democratic challenger to Mr. Obama? I’d love to know!

Alex: The Life of a Child - You must read this!

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 06:42:00 +0000

Earlier this evening I finished reading an extraordinary book. It was moving, lyrical, funny, heartbreaking, instructive, inspirational, and wise. The book is Alex: The Life of a Child, by Frank Deford. Yes, that Frank Deford – the Frank Deford you might have read for years in Sports Illustrated or the Frank Deford that you’ve heard since late 1981 on National Public Radio. He’s also written novels and screenplays and essays and just about anything you can imagine.

In 1971, Frank and his wife welcomed a daughter into their home. She lived for another 8 years. She had cystic fibrosis, a disease that was not nearly as well known then as it is now. (Part of why it’s as well known as it is now is because Deford wrote this magnificent book.)

The book is notable for many reasons, but one of the things that stands out to me is that Deford manages to tell this painful and heart aching tale in a voice that is breezy, casual, and familiar. It is as if a favorite uncle is telling you a difficult story but his sense of humor and perspective is always intact. Deford obviously loved (loves) his little Alexandra, Alex, but he never falls into the maudlin and never succumbs to self-pity. The story is rich in detail and wrenching emotion, but always rendered with a deft, light touch.

This is creative nonfiction at its best.

I recognize that some folks wince at the term “creative nonfiction,” but if you read this book you might wince a little less. This is a book of nonfiction to be sure. And it has been rendered beautifully, lovingly through the techniques that our greatest fiction writers employ.

Deford is a master storyteller, and he is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve when that’s what the story requires. While attending the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference last month, I had the good fortune to hear Deford speak and to briefly meet him. The man is no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is, AND bring your craft to bear. In other words, he’s a writer. He’s a writer’s writer.

Alex: The Life of a Child is a slim volume, weighing in at just slightly more than 200 pages, but it packs a powerful emotional punch and it contains a story about love and loving that any person can benefit from experiencing. Deford’s little girl Alex had an enormous impact in her eight short years of life – impact on many people beyond just her immediate family, and reading this book is a potent reminder of the potential we all have to make a difference in the world, to make an impact.

I recommend this book without reservation. It is beautifully written and the story contained within is simply and truthfully, heartbreaking and lovely.

Namaste.

Time to Act

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:35:00 +0000

Yesterday on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, regular commentator David Brooks, a conservative columnist for The New York Times (I understand that some of my right leaning friends might think that previous phrase an oxymoron, but he is conservative) said that he didn’t understand why the Republicans would be walking away from a deal wherein this so-called Socialist leaning Democratic president is offering 1.5 trillion dollars in spending cuts, including cuts to Social Security and Medicare that are sure to upset his base.

The aforementioned is part of a 4 trillion dollar deal that president Obama is pushing for, a combination of deficit reduction, significant spending cuts, and some revenue enhancements, most of which would come from closing corporate tax loopholes and repealing George W. Bush’s tax cuts on those making more than $250,000 per year.

What are the Republicans thinking? Do they think they are going to get more spending cuts out of this president, or any Democratic president for that matter? Do they not care about not raising the debt ceiling and allowing our nation to go into default? No, of course not – that’s why they have Sen. McConnell’s (R-KY) cynical suggestion to give the president the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own, so they don’t have to take any responsibility for the issue. And yet, wait a minute…

Who was it that approved more spending than Mr. Obama asked for? The Congress. Who was it that approved spending for a prescription drug plan that was never paid for and two (arguably three) wars that were never paid for? Answer: the Congress.

It is far past time for this nonsense to stop. Perhaps Mr. Obama overstated his case yesterday when he said that 80% of Americans favored a balance approach to solving this problem, with a combination of spending cuts and increased revenue. The latest polls I’ve seen peg it at about 69%, which is still pretty significant, and which includes a significant number of folks from the other side of the aisle.

It is time to fix this problem. It is time to get control of our fiscal situation. It is time for legislators to do what we sent them to Washington for, namely, to legislate. And, it is far past time for everyone involved to come together and work for what is in the interest of the American people – not the republicans, not the democrats, but the American people.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the present situation, but the time to act is upon us. It’s far past time to end senseless subsidies to oil companies who are pulling in record profits. It’s far past time to end senseless subsidies for ethanol, which is a net loss when it comes to attempting to alleviate the emissions of greenhouse gases. And, it’s time to get real about cutting our spending and sensibly increasing revenues so we can get our fiscal house back in order.

It is, in short, time to act. Not to posture. Not to grandstand. It’s time to act.

Namaste.

Responding

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:28:00 +0000

Sometimes, every now and again, an event occurs that causes us to hit an internal reset button, to reassess our own troubles or struggles or disappointments or difficulties. Such an event occurred last Friday, March 11, in Japan.

That day, Japan was struck by a huge earthquake and then a far more devastating series of tsunamis. Even now, we don’t have a clear picture of just how devastating these events have been. We know that at least 1,500 people have died and Japanese authorities are estimating (as of now) that the death toll will likely exceed 10,000 people. There are multiple nuclear reactors that are in danger of melting down or overheating to near meltdown conditions, and there remain threats of additional tsunamis.

This is an enormously difficult time for the small island nation of Japan. Earlier today, Japan’s Prime Minister said that this was the worst crisis they have faced since World War Two. That’s saying something.

(At the end of WWII, in case you don’t know, the US dropped Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only times that these particular weapons of mass destruction have ever been used.)

Since those horrible days in 1945 the Japanese have become close Allies, close friends. I was relieved to learn earlier today that a friend of mine who interned for me when I was at American Theater Company several years ago is safe and sound. She made it through the earthquake and did not suffer from the tsunami – she was in Tokyo, and, thankfully, on high enough ground.

Others are not so fortunate. Now is a time for us to think about and pray (if that is part of your personal ethos) for our friends in Japan. They are facing an extremely difficult time right now. They need all the help we can provide. Money, gear, support, prayers, and thoughts.

Reading of what’s going on in Japan right now and watching snippets of coverage on CNN makes it clear to me that this is going to be a long, hard battle for our friends on the other side of the world. They need to know that we support them. And, we need to understand that it could just as easily be we who could be going through such a disaster. California has the San Andreas fault. It’s really not a question of if, but more a question of when. It’s coming. No one knows when, but California is going to experience a big earthquake in the undetermined future. As will Illinois. Illinois? Yes, we are also on an unstable fault. Earth’s tectonic plates don’t care where we live, or what language we speak, or what sort of government we have. They move. They shift. On their own. They don’t discriminate. Nor should we in our aid for our friends. And today our friend need to be the Japanese, who need our help immediately.

Transitions, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 07:58:00 +0000

Sometimes what’s in our heart is not worth public consumption, so what do we write about then?

Well, here’s trying to answer that question. Of what do we write when we are feeling so down or lost or blue or sorry-for-ourselves that no one would possibly want to read what we have to say?

Well, I suppose the first thing we’d do is not blame anyone else for what we are feeling. I suppose the first thing we’d do is say, “Well, here it is. Here I am. I feel what I feel. And perhaps the only reason that there’s any worth in writing this is that there might be others out there who are also feeling just a little bit lost, or at-sea, or flummoxed with this difficult job market and all the rest.”

Okay, that’s not too bad. That’s not blaming anyone; that’s just admitting that I’m feeling like I’m in a rough spot right now. At the same time, I also must say this: I’m among the lucky ones. I have a good, solid roof over my head. I have a good education. I have a wonderful, terrific, spouse who is immensely supportive of me – even when I’m a little off of my game.

Last year I published (thanks to my dear friend and great supporter Katerina Stoykova-Klemer) my first chapbook. I’m deeply grateful. Katerina went on to nominate the second chapter of that book for a Pushcart Prize, for which I am also very grateful. Last year, I also earned my MFA in Writing, for which I am ALSO grateful. And yet… and yet… here I find myself in a sort of limbo, a sort of haze, a sort of . . . lost feeling.

I’m applying for jobs, although I’m not sure I’m doing the best job of it. I’m continuing to work, sporadically, but not enough. I’m not writing nearly enough as I need to. It’s as if I’ve lost faith. In myself. In my voice. In my work.

Boo-hoo, stop feeling sorry for yourself, you over-educated, self-indulgent asshole!!

Yeah, those are my sentiments exactly. There is no time to feel sorry for one’s self. There is no time to wallow in self-pity or to endlessly engage in “what-if” questions. Therefore, the time has come to move the f**k on. As a good friend of mine likes to put it, “Get on with the bitch!” Indeed. And I shall. This I vow, with this blog post. It’s the only reason I’m posting this. So anyone who reads this can, perhaps, be helpful in holding me accountable to moving on and getting on with it.

When I graduated with my MFA, Tori Murden McClure, the newly named president of Spalding University discussed in her address to our graduating class how these newly graduated MFAs might be emotionally vulnerable for a while, but she assured family and friends that we’d be okay eventually. Well, that eventually has come for me. It’s time to get back to work. Time to turn the page, so to speak.

Thank you for your indulgence.

Namaste.

Momentous Times

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:01:00 +0000

We are living in momentous times, I think.

Look at what’s happened in the past few months in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and other North African and Middle Eastern countries. Look at what’s going on in Wisconsin and Indiana and Tennessee and Ohio and, likely, in other states, of which I am not yet aware.

People are rising up. They are demanding that they be heard. Legislators and Governors are making demands, some of which make sense and some of which seem to feel like an over-reach, a power-grab, or choose your adjective.

The exciting thing is that people are being heard. Voices are mattering.

A couple of days ago, I was at a rehearsal for a corporate gig the I was directing, and a right-leaning friend of mine asked me as we were coming off of a break, “Would you be willing to wait a year or two for your Social Security benefits to kick in if it would help take care of the current national deficit?” I thought for a moment, and then said, “Yes, absolutely, no question!”

He said, “You know? I’ve asked that of my right wing friends and my left wing friends, and everyone has had the same answer: Yes!”

So, why can’t we get it done?

Why won’t this Congress do what they need to do and pass legislation that begins to slowly raise the retirement age? When Social Security was first enacted the life expectancy in the United States was 62 (or something close to that) and one didn’t qualify for SSN until you were 65!! It’s STILL at 65, and yet we are living longer and longer. Where is the sense in that? (Okay, full disclosure, it has started to rise VERY incrementally for those who are my age… I may have to wait until I’m 66 1/2 … oh my!) It needs to rise more. I would happily add another 2 or 3 years in order to help this country, MY country, OUR country, deal with our fiscal mess.

We spend too much in this county. Too much on defense, too much on health care, too much on energy, too much on… well, I suppose, just about everything. Only discipline and a new way of thinking is going to change that. I know a lot of my Republican friends think that the answer is to get rid of social spending and to bust the unions, especially the teachers unions, but, honestly, why should teachers lose the right to collective bargaining while we keep that right for firefighters and law enforcement? I don’t understand the distinction.

Have there been abuses? I imagine so. Are there areas where we can improve these negotiations? I imagine so. But, let’s not throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Let’s all be adults and deal with the situation. The relevant unions in Wisconsin, for instance, have already agreed to all of the wage and pension concessions that the Governor has requested, why does he have to do away with collective bargaining?

Returning to the question my right-leaning friend and colleague asked me about being willing to delay retirement a couple or a few years if it would help our nation. I said, “Yes,” and he told me that everyone else he asked said, “Yes.” We are not so far apart as it sometimes seems. I think we share more in common than we might always know. Let us stop attacking one another over trivial things like: Who’s more patriotic? Or, Who’s got the best interest of our country at heart? We ALL have the best interests of our country at heart, and that’s precisely the point of our political process – we determine the policy directions of our country (and our states and our municipalities) through the political process. But there is simply no need for anyone in this country to demonize another. We are strongest when we work together and when we understand that even if we disagree, we can do so agreeably.

Namaste.

Encouragement

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 07:37:00 +0000

Yesterday I posted a blog entitled Discouragement. Tonight I want to visit the flip side.

Twenty-nine years ago, in the spring of 1982, I was a student at New York University and Ronald Reagan was president of the United States. He was pushing for massive cuts to student loans and grants and what-not, and several thousand students decided to mount a protest to Reagan’s planned cuts. At the time, my brother Scott was living with our natural father, Bob Jaycox, in Joppa, Maryland, not very far from Washington, D.C. Once I knew I was going to be going down to D.C. to protest Reagan’s proposed Draconian cuts, I called my brother and asked if he might want to meet me in Washington for lunch or something.

He said, “yes.”

We met on the steps of the Capitol building one March afternoon, almost precisely twenty-nine years ago. It was the first time he and I had ever chosen to see each other, to spend time together. As I recall, we walked around a bit, took in some sights and eventually had lunch somewhere – I have no idea where. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was with my brother. It was great.

I just got off the phone with my brother a few minutes ago. We talked earlier this evening for nearly ninety minutes. We talked about our lives, our hopes, our worries, our concerns, our joys.

We recalled that day twenty-nine years ago that we decided to meet one another on neutral turf, by our own choice, and I couldn’t help but tear up. It was a pivotal moment in both of our lives, and a joyful one. It was the first time that we decided we wanted to see each other, to visit, to spend time with one another. It was – and remains – a gift. A gift that we gave each other. We decided that we were brothers, we embraced it. It was always so, of course, but it meant so much more after we embraced it.

And so while last night I mused about discouragement, tonight I write of encouragement, because the meeting that my brother and I had twenty-nine years ago is one of the most encouraging things I can imagine. And the conversation that we had tonight was just what the doctor ordered.

Namaste.

Discouragement

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:50:00 +0000

None of us is eager to embrace the title, to admit to being discouraged. And yet it happens in most of our lives, or at least many of our lives. Sometimes, we get discouraged. We might lose hope or feel like we aren’t getting anywhere or feel like we are aimless or restless or lacking the sort of clear guidance that we might prefer.

Perhaps you’ve placed a call to an old friend or a trusted colleague and left a message and it’s been days without a return call. Perhaps you’ve reached out to someone who assured you that they would always be there for you, but this time that’s just not quite the case. What do you do?

You soldier on. You find your own strength. You hold your head as high as you possibly can and even when you feel like you don’t have a damned clue as to what your next best move is you keep on going. You resolve to do what it is you want to do, you resolve to be better at communicating with your friends, you resolve to go after each and every opportunity you can find, you resolve to NOT be dragged into the morass of self-doubt and self-pity. You resolve to tell yourself, “It’s time to stop wondering what life is going to bring me and time to start determining what life is going to being me.”

I’m writing – of course – to myself. It’s time for me to stop wondering what life is going to bring me and it’s time for me to start determining what life is going to bring me. I’m applying for jobs, yes; I’m working (too sporadically) on my manuscript, yes; but I need to embrace that no one can determine more what life will bring me than I can. It ain’t easy. And it often isn’t much fun. But there we are. There it is.

It’s time for me to get back to work; to my work. To writing. Of course I have to pay the bills, and I will – whether that be through writing and directing corporate training work or teaching as an adjunct wherever I can get the work, I’ll do it. But I also need to do the real work, the writing work that I’ve trained for and worked for and that I… ultimately, love.

My late birth father had a phrase that he used a lot. He would say, “Well, good enough.” His saying “good enough” meant so much more than what those two words instantly imply. It meant, “All is well.” It meant, “Now we can proceed.” It meant, “Full speed ahead.” It is high time for me to heed my late father’s words, “Good enough.”

Damn whatever torpedoes might be waiting in the wings. Full speed ahead.

Namaste.

Transitions

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:14:00 +0000

Change is often difficult. We are often afraid of the unknown, of the what-will-come-of-our-current-efforts.

I'm in that sort of place right now. I'm applying for a bunch of teaching jobs. My wife is about to leave her job, which has provided us with health insurance for the past three years. We are in transition.

I've applied for jobs here in Chicago, but I'm also applying for a number of jobs that aren't here in Chicago. Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, among others. We might experience significant change. We might not. But, here we are. We continue, we persevere. We do what must be done.

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm concerned about what comes next. Will I finish my book? Will I get a good job? Will I get anyone interested in publishing what I'm writing? All of these questions lurk, and yet... and YET... one must do what one can to carry on, to keep going, to keep working. On what matters. Chicago has been hit hard in the past week or so by a major blizzard. The snow is still overwhelming. Tomorrow morning, I will dig out my car (again) for the first time in more than a week because I have to be somewhere for auditions for an upcoming project.

It's okay. It's alright. Solutions don't appear overnight. They come when they do. I missed being at AWP this past weekend. At least my book was there. (Thanks Katerina!) I wish you all, whoever might happen upon this - strength and courage and stamina to go on, to face the world as it is, because it isn't always as we might wish it to be. It is what it is, and we must soldier on, trying to find our place in it.

Namaste.

Brian

On Not Blogging Much Recently…

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:13:00 +0000

It’s been more than two months since my last post and much has occurred in that time – I’ve been blessedly busy with work for the past two months (needed the money big-time after months of underemployment); a chapter of my chapbook Meeting Dad: A Memoir was nominated for a Pushcart Prize (thank you Accents Publishing and Katerina Stoykova-Klemer!); and, I’ve been cooking… a lot!

Recent dishes include: Linguini with White Clam Sauce, Filet Mignon and Fettucine Alfredo for Christmas Eve (2nd annual meal for that night); Sloppy Joe’s from scratch; tacos from scratch; various and sundry one-pan-wonders with meat (pork or beef) and an assortment of vegetables; Spaghetti and Meatballs (veal and pork); and, on New Year’s Eve, authentic Buffalo Chicken Wings. Perhaps I’ve been putting more creative energy into cooking than I have into writing? Perhaps. Perhaps I also simply needed to take a break, to take some stock, to recharge my batteries, as it were.

On New Year’s Day, I spent some time with some friends (old and new) and was fascinated to discover that there were several of us who either hold (or are close to earning) an MFA in Writing. It felt good to connect with the writing vibe again and I realized that it is time for me to get my butt back into the chair and to finish my memoir-in-progress. I’ve been stymied for several weeks because of my old demons “self-doubt” and “second guessing.” That, I suppose, and simply being exhausted from the pace of work and other vicissitudes with which we all deal, pretty much every day.

There’s been another thing at work however. I think I’ve grown weary of the din, of the constant noise with which we are so often bombarded – pundits and prognosticators making their oh-so-self-important proclamations about Obama and the tea party and Congress and Palin among many other subjects. I suppose I’ve been less eager than other times to add my voice to the din, at least not unless I thought I had something interesting to say, and, frankly I don’t think I’ve had anything too terribly interesting to say about recent political developments. Honestly, I think we all need to take a collective breath and calm down. So maybe that’s it? Maybe I needed to give myself a timeout? Perhaps. Maybe I simply needed to spend some more time in the kitchen – mixing, stirring, inventing, interpreting, exploring.

Now, it’s a New Year. 2011 has arrived. The economy is showing slow signs of recovery, the 112th Congress is convening, next month Chicago will elect a new Mayor, Jerry Brown is once again governor of California and Ahh-nold is likely headed back to Hollywood, given that he can’t run for president.

Here we go, then. A new year, a new decade, and – I hope – a new chance to embrace the work of our lives.

Namaste.

Trick or Treat?

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:40:00 +0000

Late last night, near midnight, my wife Gloria and I walked into our kitchen and smelled gas. There had been previous occasions when we’d wondered if we were smelling gas, but then we’d stop and smell some more and think… nah, there’s nothing wrong.

Last night, there was no doubt. We smelled gas and we called the gas company for emergency service.

A man and a woman from Peoples Gas arrived relatively quickly, but then proceeded to treat us in a horrific manner. We explained that we smelled something like the smell of rotten eggs, and the man said, “Our gas doesn’t smell like rotten eggs. We put Mercaptan in it.”

Wikipedia tells me that Mercaptan is “a colorless gas with a smell like rotten cabbage.” So, I guess we were wrong. But, what you need to understand is the tone with which the man asserted that their gas didn’t smell like rotten eggs. It was derisive, haughty, and, frankly, insulting. As if we were idiots to describe that – threatening – smell in such a way. And, neither he nor his partner would let this faux pas go – they kept saying things like, “It doesn’t smell like rotten eggs” and “You don’t know what you’re talking about” and “We’ll determine whether or not there is any problem here,” etc. – all with that same, curiously hostile and dismissive attitude.

The man had a device with him to check for leaking gas, a handheld instrument with a tube attached to it, something like a Geiger counter. It clicked slowly, perhaps at one-second intervals, when there was no unexpected presence of gas, but clicked quite rapidly when there was a significant amount of gas present. When he steered the end of the tube behind our gas stove, it went ballistic, clicking like mad.

We had a gas leak.

This meant that the duo had to check all gas appliances in the house as well as the source of the gas coming into our house. Down to the basement we went – water heaters, fine; incoming gas line (in our tenants’ apartment), fine; upstairs gas fireplace, fine. Throughout all of these additional checks, they continued to be hostile and dismissive of my and my wife’s concerns. They did, in the end, replace the flexible hose leading from the gas valve to the back of our stove, but I doubt I will ever understand why they were so rude to us.

Discovering that you have gas leaking in your house late at night is rather troubling and worrisome. In that, well… the house could have blown up!

The kicker? The literature that they left with us after we signed to cover the bill contains the following line: “Peoples Gas adds an odorant (Mercaptan) that smells like sulfur or rotten eggs to alert you in the event of a gas leak.”

Maybe they should tell their workers that.

Namaste.

Identity Theft

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:39:00 +0000

It’s been far too long since I’ve posted anything on this blog – life has simply been overwhelmingly busy of late. In May, I completed my MFA in Writing and had the great honor of addressing my fellow graduates and the assembled guests at graduation. The following day, I enjoyed the privilege of giving a public reading from my recently published chapbook, Meeting Dad: A Memoir (Accents Publishing, 2010), at the Morris Bookshop in Lexington, Kentucky. (By the way, if you find yourself in Lexington, pay a visit to this terrific independent bookstore! They are great and friendly and knowledgeable and everything you want in a bookstore experience.)

Earlier this month, I started teaching at DeVry University here in Chicago. I am teaching English 112 (Essay Writing) to 29 high school students who are part of a wildly innovative program called the DeVry University Achievement Academy, whereby the students complete their high school education and earn an Associates Degree at the same time. I’m also teaching HUMN 303 (Introduction to the Humanities) to juniors in pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree. Seven credit hours over an eight-week summer session is a pretty heavy load, but I am, by and large, loving it! It is a privilege to teach, and an awesome responsibility. (By the way, I don’t use the word “awesome” very often, but in this case, it is the exact, right word.)

So, why is the title of this posting “Identity Theft?”

I learned earlier today that my debit card number has somehow been compromised. I don’t know whether it was due to some store losing data that a thief got a hold of or whether someone transcribed the numbers while they had my card in order to process a transaction. My debit card is in the right front pocket of my pants at all times, except when it is on my desk when I go to sleep at night. But, I learned today that someone – some thief – made an innocuous charge of $2.49 to some company in Kansas and a very much less-than-innocuous charge of $1,675 to a jewelry store in Los Angeles today! The debit card has been cancelled, a new one ordered, and a fraud claim will be filed within the next day or so.

How the thief or thieves secured my debit card number is a mystery. The good news is that my bank has assured me that once I’ve filed a fraud affidavit, my money will be returned to me – along with any bank fees that might be assessed while this whole issue is working itself out. The bad news is that it’s going to take me a few days to clear up this whole mess, and that during that time, I will have no access to a pretty significant amount of money.

Ah well… these things happen. I’m not going to let it ruin my day or week. I have classes to teach, papers to grade, and an upcoming birthday for my wife to prepare for. I guess I wanted to share this with you simply to say, be cautious. Be careful. Shred anything that might have account numbers on it. And, most importantly, be well.

Namaste.

You Don’t Know Jack

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:40:00 +0000

So I just watched the premiere of Barry Levinson’s new film, You Don’t Know Jack, starring Al Pacino as Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian. It was extraordinarily well made and featured the most nuanced and understated performance I’ve seen from Pacino on-screen in, well, a long, long, time! He was great, as were Brenda Vacarro (as Jack’s sister Margo) and Susan Sarandon (as a Hemlock Society organizer who is stricken with pancreatic cancer) and Chicago’s own, Rondi Reed (as the judge who finally sent Jack to jail).

More importantly than it being a good film, however, is the issue with which the film engages – namely, assisted suicide, death with dignity, or euthanasia – depending upon your point of view. I personally believe that if a human being is suffering unbearable pain with a terminal illness and is rational that he or she should be allowed to request that a doctor help usher him or herself out of this world with some dignity, some grace. I understand (and respect) the concerns that some have about potential abuses if we as a society were to embrace this, but I also believe (strongly) that there are some pretty simple ways to avoid abuse – like getting two or three opinions from licensed doctors that the patient is mentally competent.

Look at what happens all too often now: many folks are bankrupted in the last months (or weeks, or even days) of their lives spending all they have on medical care that is more about prolonging their life than improving their life. Or making them comfortable. Why is it okay that people go bankrupt to spend another several weeks in agony? Or, why can’t we trust that a patient who is in constant pain and has no chance of recovery might reasonably wish to simply let go – say their goodbyes, get their affairs in order, and let go? Is that irrational? I think not.

This whole subject seems to have moved to the back burner of our national discourse in the past several years – understandably so, given wars and the recession, et al – but perhaps its time we start to discuss it again. At the moment, only the state of Oregon has any allowance for physician-assisted suicide. Perhaps I’ll move there if I am unfortunate enough to contract a life-threatening terminal disease.

It’s a conversation worth having, I think. It’s hard, yes. It’s painful, yes. But it matters. None of us want our loved ones to suffer needlessly and yet so many do, every day of every year. I’m hoping that this fine movie might help spur an increased dialogue on this very important – and, very controversial – subject.

Namaste.

That Didn’t Take Long, Did It?

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:10:00 +0000

Less than 36 hours after President Obama signed the historic health insurance reform bill, more Americans now support it than don’t, according to a USA Today poll released today. The newspaper reports, “By 49%-40%, those polled say it was ‘a good thing’ rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill. Half describe their reaction in positive terms — as ‘enthusiastic’ or ‘pleased’ — while about four in 10 describe it in negative ways, as ‘disappointed’ or ‘angry.’”

What’s more, fully 52% of those polled said they feel the bill either “makes the most important changes needed” or is “a good first step, [although] more changes are needed.” With most in the GOP and many right wing pundits screaming about the bill being “shoved down the country’s throat” and wildly asserting that “the vast majority of American don’t want health care reform” one has to wonder how these numbers could have developed so quickly.

Might it be that Americans are beginning to learn what’s contained within the bill? Might it be that most Americans – that is to say, a clear majority – are tired of things like pre-existing conditions and being dropped just when one needs health insurance? How about the fact that this bill assures that check-ups and other preventive care will – for the first time in history – be covered by new insurance policies with no co-payments?

Is it perfect? Of course not. And no one – no one – has suggested that it is. Is it a start? Indeed.

What troubles me the most is the deception and fear-mongering that has informed and surrounded this so-called debate. Taxes are not hiked on the middle-class, they are hiked on those earning more than $250,000 a year. In the last twenty-thirty years, the real rates of taxation have steadily fallen on the wealthiest in our society while rising on the middle and lower middle class. It’s about time that this trend gets reversed. I’m not engaging in class warfare here; rather, I am advocating some basic sense of fairness. The gap between rich and poor has never been as wide as it is today. Closing it would be a good thing for all Americans. Does this bill fix that problem? Not entirely, no. But it’s a good start.

Obama ran on health care reform. He told the American people that this would be his biggest domestic priority. So, how can anyone express great surprise that he pushed hard for this? It’s what we elected him to do!

A conservative friend of mine recently griped to me that many of the proposals take 3-4 years to kick in, as if this proves that it’s bad. Obama addressed this issue directly before signing the bill yesterday, explaining that certain elements are phased in over time so that changes are made responsibly, adding, “We have to get this right!”

I agree.

I believe that as Americans learn what this bill does and does not do that support for it will only continue to rise. I believe that the Democrats will run on health care reform next November, not away from it. I, unlike Rush and some of my other friends on the right, want this president (and by extension, our country) to succeed, not fail. And, I’m not ashamed to say it.

Certainly we will find there are things that can be done to make this bill better. Great, let’s do them. But let’s also try to engage one another once again with a modicum of civility and honest recognition of what is and is not in this or any other bill. The fact is there are some two-hundred GOP proposals contained within the bill Mr. Obama signed yesterday. The bill didn’t garner any GOP votes, but it’s got a lot of GOP ideas. As it should. Let’s all turn down the rhetorical heat a bit and keep our eyes on what’s important. Namely, our country and the health of our citizens.

Namaste.

A Regrettable Ruling

noreply@blogger.com (Another Chicago Writer) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:05:00 +0000

Thirteen years ago, I received a letter from my natural father, Bob Jaycox, in which he railed against “legal fiction of the corporation,” observing that they have “never breathed a breath of air, never watched a sunset, never held a child,” but they “feed at the trough of government largesse, wield political power on a measure which should never exist in this nation, and cast off those who live and breath at their own whim and convenience.”

Today, in a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that corporations should be able to spend whatever they want to spend in political campaigns, arguing that corporations had the same rights as individuals and that this spending was protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. But, wait a minute… First of all, are corporations really individuals? The Supreme Court has held as much for many years so let’s put that aside for a moment. But, another question: I, as an individual, am limited as to how much I can spend on a political campaign. I have a cap on my contribution to a candidate or party I support. Now, corporations have no limitations whatsoever, but my ability to contribute to a candidate or party remains limited. What’s up with that?

Is a corporation now more of a “person” than I am? Or than you are? Your political contributions are strictly limited under current law and yet Aetna or Philip Morris or Pfizer can now donate whatever they want. No limits. None. What in Sam Hill’s name is going on?

My friends on the right (and I do have some) will likely not approve of what I’m about to suggest but I think the time has come for serious reform of campaign finance, and the reform I want is public financing. This would stop the millionaires from having an unfair leg up on the rest of us and level the playing field. We would (collectively – uh-oh, he must be a Socialist!) finance campaigns for all federal elected offices; states could decide what they want to do for statewide elections on their own. But it seems to me it wouldn’t be that hard to create a legitimacy test for prospective federal candidates that entitle them to public financing. Once they satisfy that test they could only receive public financing and we would have a level playing field in terms of ad buys and the like. Each candidate would have to prove him or herself in the arena, through the cleverness of the ads the public finances allow them to buy to their personal pressing-of-the-flesh to their performance at debates. Let the best woman or man win.

Corporations are NOT individuals. As my late father said, they’ve “never breathed a breath of air, never watched a sunset, never held a child.” Individuals do all of those things. We breathe, we notice the sunset (and the sunrise), we hold children, even if we don’t have them ourselves – we hold our nieces and nephews or the children of friends, or, our own younger siblings. We are individuals. We breathe, we see, we touch, we taste, we feel. Corporations don’t cry or hurt or laugh. Their stocks rise or fall and individuals involved with them might cry or hurt or laugh, but corporations themselves demonstrably do not. That’s why they can lay off 10,000 workers at a time without blinking an eye.

Let me be clear. I am not anti-corporation. In fact, I, along with my wife, own a corporation. It’s called Russell Creative, Inc., and we formed it because it was a good tax move. But Russell Creative, Inc. is not and never will be an individual. It is a tax haven. It is a way for us to pay for medical expenses and research expenses and other business related necessities on a pre-tax basis. But, I wouldn’t ever in a million years argue that Russell Creative, Inc. should be thought of as an individual. It is demonstrably NOT an individual. It is a VERY small company run by my wife and me. It exists because given the current tax laws it makes sense for it to exist. Why should it be able to spend more money in support of a candidate than I am able to? This makes no sense.

This ruling will surely be overturned eventually, but meanwhile, I urge you to be in touch with your Representatives and Senators and push them to enact new legislation to try to work around this abominable ruling the Supreme Court. Our lives do, in fact, depend upon it.

Namaste.