𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒

I have a theory that money perturbs spacetime. Approaching money dilates time, whereas money that's receding accelerates time. Thus, checks coming in the mail arrive more slowly than bills. When you're spending money, time goes very fast, but earning money can make time slow to a crawl.

Yes, I know I’m a skeptic… and you may think this was only a dream. But this compelling vision has shaken me to the core: I’m reassessing everything. 1/3

A dazzling tunnel of light unfolded in front of me, and inside of it I could just barely make out the unmistakable silhouette of my beloved departed mother, gauzily framed before the brilliant glare. 2/3

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

Liberalism, secularism, pluralism… they all represent change, and challenge deeply held assumptions that a very large number of White Americans were taught to believe before they were capable of questioning them. 12/13

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

Especially if they are shared by your peers, and spoonfed to you by your leaders and media. And even if acknowledged, is it even possible to use reason to shake people out of their fear of Black people? Their fear of immigrants? Homophobia and transphobia? 10/13

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

I can manage my exposure to things that trigger my fear, so it typically doesn’t interfere with my life. I acknowledge my fear and its irrationality, and can take steps to counter it. 8/13

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

That’s not even the worst of it: I once experienced acrophobia when just READING about people at great heights: there’s a passage in Michael Chabon’s “The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” that takes place on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. 6/13

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

No matter how much I tried to convince myself that there was absolutely nothing for me to be fearful of… it wasn’t working. At a certain point I had to avert my eyes. 4/13

“The frightening things we do sometimes when we’re afraid to be afraid.” - Dr. Praetorius from ‘People Will Talk’ (J. Mankiewicz, 1951) I have a fear of heights. I don’t know when it arrived, but I didn’t always have it. I didn’t have it as a child. I didn’t have it in college. 1/13

But one day I was in a high rise building and noticed that I felt tremendous anxiety, panic even. Weirdly (and conveniently) this doesn’t apply to flying, which I can handle. Does that make sense? Not at all. Which is the point of this little essay: fear is not reasonable. 2/13

57 years ago I was at Camp Chingachgook on Lake George with a mass of campers and counselors gathered before a little B&W TV, enthralled by a blurry picture and Walter Cronkite's narration.

Happy Birthday to Mel Brooks! 100 down, 1900 to go… He's a centenarian - or is that centurion? Mazel Tov, Mel.

He has a Hugo and a Nebula (SciFi awards) for "Young Frankenstein." He was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 (thanks, Obama!), has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, won an AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, and a British Film Institute Fellowship.

Happy Birthday to Mel Brooks! 100 down, 1900 to go… He's a centenarian - or is that centurion? Mazel Tov, Mel.

This is a Santa Rosa plum tree, bred by Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa’s 2nd-most famous resident. My family can consume about 1/8 of a tree's produce. We have two. For 48 weeks of the year, there are no plums. And then, suddenly, there are far, far, far too many plums.

We give them freely to friends, neighbors, and passers by. Local food banks are inundated with them annually. We have lived here for 30 years and made every possible dish that makes use of large numbers of plums. Our shelves are full of plum preserves from previous years. Plum wine. Slivovitz.

Antifa liberals have been sabotaging the dog's dish in my backyard: I am forced to stay on top of changing the water to foil their acts of vandalism.