Returned To Life

Greetings And Salutations!

How long has it been? 13 months or so since my last missive, and much has changed.

First, for those who may care about such things an explanation is probably in order regarding my extended absence. I did not just get bored and decide that I would not write anymore, there was an event that caused me to rethink a few things and take a pause and reflect.

On Nov 30th 2024 I suffered a heart attack. Testing revealed 95, 70, and 65 percent blockage in 3 respective areas of my pump with the end result being the installation of 3 stents. My last article being a tribute to John Lennon was actually written prior to this event but was saved and published on Dec. 8th, that being the anniversary of his death.

Unfortunately there is nothing really notable about a 57 year old man who is 100 lbs over-weight (that is about 45kg for those of you who speak lesser English) having a heart attack.

There were some interesting aspects and it is certainly an interesting story to tell, but I will save those for another time.

Suffice to say that like many people who experience such things, I felt compelled to step back and take a look at where my life was at and where it was going. My diet, lifestyle, physical, and even my spiritual life did not stand up very well to scrutiny and some changes needed to be made.

Prior to this event, I had started a project that seemed to be going pretty well. I was posting articles, monetized on X and gaining followers, and in the process of editing what would have been my first YouTube video.

After this event, some thinking was in order and questions needed to be asked. Chief among these questions was this:

“Do I want to spend day after day swimming in the poison waters of politics just for the purpose of being in the game or making money?”

I had been here once before. Many years ago my wife and I had started a political magazine. It didn't do very well as we were hopelessly naive and had no heads for business, but toward the end of it’s run I was offered the chance to do a radio show which HAD been my wildest dream but I turned it down.

I turned it down because after a year or so of political immersion post 9-11 and during the Iraq War I had burned out and just didn’t want to talk about it any more. The same thing was beginning to happen after the election of 2024. I reached a point where I was just dying to talk about anything other than politics, and then of course I had a heart attack.

In the throws of the self-analysis that followed I came to a conclusion: I will ALWAYS burn out if I confine myself to political analysis. Politics is a crappy place with crappy people and I do not want to spend every day of my life mucking out a pig-sty in search of a tiny scraps of intellectual discourse.

Certainly there are times when one is inspired to up the irons, dive into the fray in a fit of righteous indignation and do battle, but there are other times (such as today with the release of another 3 million pages of non-information that is the Epstein Files) when it is better to just open the umbrella, find a quiet place to sit and hope that you can keep yourself from getting too wet.

So I am back and I will be here, but things will be changing.

I look forward to speaking to you about movies, books, philosophy, music, and further confounding you with inconsistent punctuation and run-on sentences.

I have been a musician all of my life and write songs, and will likely be including some of that on this page for those who are so inclined. The Youtube videos will probably still happen, if for no other reason than I spent 200 bucks on Final Cut Pro. I have no idea what form they will take, but we will find out together.

I am sure I will still comment on politics when the spirit moves me to do so, but unless I really have something to say I will likely confine myself to throwing irrational pot-shots from the sidelines the way most people do. It takes little energy, less thought, and let’s face it: It can be kind of fun :)

Until next time!