The Past Was So Past It Hurt.

The Great Recession Is Not Imaginary, And The Effects Loom Large. There Was An Article In The Nyt About The Galloping Death Rate Among White Men In Middle Age. Higher Than Among Any Other Demographic, Etc. Mostly Death By Drugs, Alcohol, Or Suicide. Many Of Them Rural. My Feeling Is That It's Many People Who Haven't Been Able To Get Back Into The Work Force. Reg Morse Is An Example Of The Problem.

I'm Trying To Make Sure That There's Comedy As Well As Sadness. It Makes The Sadness More Memorable.

I Read A Lot Of 'the Canterbury Tales' On My Phone Last Year, Because I Was Cycling Between Three Different Editions, And I Needed To Have A Middle-of-the-night Edition For The Insomniac Reading.

Maybe When I'm Sixty-five I'll Talk About My Literary Life.

There Is No Right Or Wrong Reading Of Naked Lunch, Though Some Readings Are More Common, And Thus Burroughs Commercial Is Not The Issue.