Democracy and a Prophecy
H.L.Mencken, “the sage of Baltimore,” wrote this sobering prophecy almost exactly a century ago. I found it recently posted on Facebook by a former friend (former by his decision, not mine). As democracy is...
The Perfect Post
This is on Instagram. My experience is, admittedly, very recent and very brief. But I absolutely love this one from the poet and writer Lavinia Greenlaw. The photo is of a pig with her snout in the...
Site Writing
Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to write posts and tweets. I hate it, but don’t see any way around it if you would like at least a few readers. The writing itself...
Winning and losing…what?
I’ve agreed to review this new book, Co-illusion: Dispatches from the End of Communication (MIT, 2020), for Source Magazine, a journal of contemporary photography. It’s a very short review — just 300 words —...
Writing and Roaming
Roaming is a small community interest group I work with, based in Penzance, near the western tip of this island. The group — usually around 6 or 7, but it varies — has established...
What a difference a [book’s] name makes!
Publishers don’t necessarily ask authors — or translators — before deciding what title to give any particular book. Lambert Wiesing and I assumed that the title of the German book Luxus, would be the English...