Blog - www.richardjespers.com

SUSPENDING PUBLICATION OF BLOG

10/29/2025

Dear Subscribers,
Once again, because of ill health, I am suspending publication of my four to five weekly blog posts. Believe me, they have always been a joy to prepare, but at this time I must devote my energy to reviving my health.

Thank you for all your support through the years that I have been in operation. I hope to be back up and running as soon as I feel like it. There are thirteen to fourteen years of archives. Please feel free to browse.
My best regards,
RJ

BY THE SEA, BY THE SEA

10/24/2025

A WRITER'S WIT
In the contemporary world, we think of politeness as surface behavior, like frosting—it’s sweet and attractive and finishes off the cake. But 19th century nobility and the enlightened thinkers and stoics before them viewed manners in a very different way. To them, manners are an outward expression of an inward struggle.
Amor Towles
Author of Table for Two: Fictions
Born October 24, 1964

A. Towles

MY BOOK WORLD

Starnone, Domenico. The Old Man by the Sea: A Novel. Translated by Oonagh Stransky. New York: Europa, 2024.

I’m not quite as enthusiastic about the novel as the unsigned “Briefly Noted” writer of the September 15, 2025 issue of The New Yorker seems to be. At one point, one of the principal characters, Nicola, quips, “And enjoy playing out your Old Man and the Sea fantasy; Make Hemingway roll over in his grave” (119). This seems an odd and forced comment, perhaps more from the mouth of the author than Nicola. For Starnone’s novel of a successful old writer (eighty-two) spending some time by the sea (instead of fishing for the big one as Santiago does in Hemingway’s book) is more about making amends (in his mind) with the women in his life, including his late mother whom he at one point believes, in a vision, has returned from the dead.

Rather, and in this way the two novels may be similar, Starnone’s old man is rethinking his life as a writer with remarks such as these: “As a young man it was deceptively easy to manipulate real facts, use them to churn out fictional stories with elements of truth, but as an old man my feeble efforts lead only to despair” (95). Or, “Practicality without imaginations is flawed. Stories are good and useful precisely because they train the brain not to be satisfied with appearances, and to look beyond” (103). But I must say, the old man does impart a bit of wisdom to another woman, when she says to him, “Don’t be clever,” and he answers, “I’m not. All I’m saying is that it’s good to imagine terrible things that can never actually come to pass. That way, when bad things do happen, we’re less frightened, and it’s easier to find consolation” (126).

Bingo. The old man hits the nail on the head about aging (at least it may, for some of us), and I suppose it is appropriate that this gem arrives on page 127 of 145.

Up Next:
MON 10/27: WHAT I'M THINKING ... IF ANYTHING
TUES 10/28: A Writer's Wit | Ayad Akhtar
WEDS 10/29: A Writer's Wit | Caroline Paul
THURS 10/30: A Writer's Wit | Timothy Findley
FRI 10/31: A Writer's Wit | Julia Peterkin
My Book World | Molly Jong-Fast, How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir

A WRITER'S WIT: LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI

10/23/2025

There is one freedom on which all other liberties depend—and that is freedom of expression, freedom of speech, of print. If this is taken away, no other freedom can exist, or at least it would be soon suppressed.
Leszek Kolakowski
Author of Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?: 23 Questions from Great Philosophers
Born October 23, 1927

L. Kołakowski

Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Domenico Starnone, The Old Man by the Sea
TUES 10/28: A Writer's Wit | Ayad Akhtar
WEDS 10/29: A Writer's Wit | Caroline Paul
THURS 10/30: A Writer's Wit | Timothy Findley

A WRITER'S WIT: DORIS LESSING

10/22/2025

Beginners who are first starting out sometimes try to write a novel, but they won’t do enough work on it. You only learn to be a better writer by actually writing. I don’t know much about creative writing programs. But they’re not telling the truth if they don’t teach, one, that writing is hard work and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer.
Doris Lessing
Author of The Summer Before the Dark
Born October 22, 1919

D. Lessing

Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Leszek Kolakowski
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Amor Towles
My Book World | Domenico Starnone, The Old Man by The Sea

A WRITER'S WIT: URSULA K. LE GUIN

10/21/2025

Some people see art as a matter of control. I see it mostly as a matter of self-control. It’s like this, in me there’s a story that wants to be told. It is my end. I am its means. If I can keep myself, my ego, my wishes and opinions, my mental junk, out of the way, and find the focus of the story, and follow the story, the story will tell itself.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Author of The Left Hand of Darkness
Born October 21, 1929

U. K. Le Guin

Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Doris Lessing
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Leszek Kolakowski
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Amor Towles
My Book World | Domenico Starnone, The Old Man by the Sea

WHAT I'M THINKING . . . SOMETHING WENT WRONG

10/20/2025

WHAT I’M THINKING is an infrequent feature of my blog. In it, I shall feel free (I hope) to share my opinion about any number of topics that matter to me and may matter to my readers, whether they be regular subscribers or those who stop along the way to somewhere else. Would love to hear your comments!

Our household utilizes at least five online services or applications on a regular basis. I’ll name them. Grubhub, for one. Ken and I began using Grubhub during the pandemic and have never stopped. Another app is . . . my gosh, they’re such a great part of our lives . . . oh, yes . . . Uber. Ken, who doesn’t drive for the moment (there’s always hope), takes an Uber I order for him to his weekly massage therapy session.

As convenient as Grubhub may be, there exist some problems with the service. Whoever fulfills the order, probably a restaurant employee, doesn’t always get the order right, for one thing. Fries when we asked for chips or vice versa. One time, the participating restaurant (no longer connected with GH) cancelled our order entirely, even though they made the very best egg rolls we ever had. Probably.

Moreover, we have “unmarked” the box that requests plastic (eek) utensils, but nearly every restaurant delivers little bags of white or black flatware with tiny little sacks of salt and pepper, all gratuitous, not asked for (La Madeleine being the fine exception). Maybe we’re in the minority; perhaps most people, even the Gen Zers and Millennials, who purportedly are so conscious of the environment, don’t mind stuffing the landfill with yet more material that won’t degrade for at least a hundred years.

I began tipping drivers 25% because why not—they can’t make that much from GH. For the most part, drivers follow our directions to a T. Come to door under CARPORT. Please ring doorbell. Thank you. Why ring the doorbell when they’re going to text me that they’ve arrived? I’m not sure. Sometimes, a driver does NOT text and our food sits there for fifteen minutes, or once, this is funny, the driver left our bag at a house across the street, a house that was empty at the time. I was already feeling lousy from being sick, but I schlepped over and retrieved the bag of life-saving gruel, whatever it was. Now that we have the app trained, so to speak, ordering food is better than it was in the beginning, but not, as the young often say . . . perfect.

Such problems don’t end with online (phone) apps. There is also good old American Telephone and Telegraph (nearly 150 years, that’s how old). Our Homeaglow worker unplugged the power strip that connected our TV, our ATT box, our DVD player and several other appliances to electricity (Homeaglow is another modren story, another day, if you please). The ATT receiver which was installed in 2009 (so says the info on the back), went dead. It would not reboot. Our gateway would not revive it either. I tried several times . . . stupidly thinking my will alone might make a difference.

I finally called ATT customer service, sensing the exchange I knew would take place. The young woman with (I believed) a Spanish accent (but turned out being Filipino) and some difficulty expressing herself by way of standard English syntax but who insisted on using the vernacular like . . . and I don’t mean as a simile . . . put me through my paces.
Have you . . .?
Yes.
Try . . .
I’ve done that already, I snapped.
Go to the other TV in your house and unplug . . .
No, I’m not doing that. I want a new receiver. This one is dead.
Finally . . . oh, and she kept putting me on hold to consult her great supervisor in the ATT sky. But yes, finally, she agreed to send us a new receiver the very next day! Yay!

Now, this transaction may sound as if it were easy, but when I checked my phone, the entire exchange took fifty-five minutes!
There were times when I had to say (taking the blame), Um, I’m old and a bit hard of hearing, could you please repeat what you said? Oh, oh. I see what you mean now (even if I wasn’t sure).
I can’t tell you how many times I asked her to repeat herself. I know she was trying as hard as she could. Later, when I asked O Great Google where such ATT employees might be stationed, the answer that came back was the Philippines. Ahhh, that made such good sense.

But there is a problem, dear American Telephone and Telegraph, with engaging employees whom customers cannot understand in the linguistic sense. Such a situation is not acceptable, especially given that last month’s bill (bundling four services) was over $700! I want to repeat, I do not blame the young woman. I thanked her for her help, profusely, I believe, and if I’d been asked to “review” our exchange, I would not have flunked her. But come on, corporate America! Why can’t you hire English speakers (of any accent) who can communicate properly with their customers? I can’t help but think of that statement that sometimes pops up on your app screen: “Oops, Something Went Wrong.”
Boy, I’ll say.

VAGUS NERVE CAN HEAL

10/17/2025

A WRITER'S WIT
I've yet to meet a writer who could change water into wine, and we have a tendency to treat them like that.
Michael Tolkin, Screenwriter
Author of film, The Offer
Born October 17, 1950

M. Tolkin

MY BOOK WORLD

Rosenberg, Stanley. Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 2017.

Part how-to, part anecdotal, all scientific, this book demonstrates the importance of the vagus nerve to one’s health. The author provides an entire appendix of easy-to-perform exercises (with photographs of a model to illustrate how they’re done). The vagus nerve carries messages from your brain to heart and digestive system. If it is damaged, it can cause many difficulties. A good read if you’re experiencing such problems. And as the subtitle would indicate, a healthy vagus nerve can help regulate conditions such as depression or anxiety. Check it out.

Up Next:
MON 10/20: WHAT I'M THINKING ... IF ANYTHING
TUES 10/21: A Writer's Wit | Ursula K. LeGuin
WEDS 10/22: A Writer's Wit | Doris Lessing
THURS 10/23: A Writer's Wit | Leszek Kolakowski
FRI 10/24: A Writer's Wit | Amor Towles
My Book World | Domenico Starnone, The Old Man by the Sea

A WRITER'S WIT: GüNTER GRASS

10/16/2025

You can declare at the very start that it’s impossible to write a novel nowadays, but then, behind your back, so to speak, give birth to a whopper, a novel to end all novels.
Günter Grass
Author of The Tin Drum
Born October 16, 1927

G. Grass

Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Stanley Rosenberg, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism
TUES 10/21: A Writer's Wit | Ursula K. LeGuin
WEDS 10/22: A Writer's Wit | Doris Lessing
THURS 10/23: A Writer's Wit | Leszek Kolakowski

A WRITER'S WIT: ROXANE GAY

10/15/2025

Social media is something of a double-edged sword. At its best, social media offers unprecedented opportunities for marginalized people to speak and bring much needed attention to the issues they face. At its worst, social media also offers “everyone” an unprecedented opportunity to share in collective outrage without reflection.
Roxane Gay
Author of Difficult Women
Born October 15, 1974

R. Gay

Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Günter Grass
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Michael Tolkin
My Book World | Stanley Rosenberg, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism

A WRITER'S WIT: KATHERINE MANSFIELD

10/14/2025

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming . . . . This all sounds very strenuous and serious. But now that I have wrestled with it, it’s no longer so. I feel happy—deep down. All is well.
Katherine Mansfield
Author of The Garden Party and Other Stories
Born October 14, 1888

K. Mansfield

Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Roxane Gay
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Günter Grass
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Michael Tolkin
My Book World | Stanley Rosenberg, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism

WHAT I'M THINKING . . . GRAVEYARDS

10/13/2025

WHAT I’M THINKING is a new, probably infrequent, feature of my blog. In it, I shall feel free (I hope) to share my opinion about any number of topics that matter to me and may matter to my readers, whether they be regular subscribers or those who stop along the way to somewhere else.

Lately . . . I'm not sure why . . . I've been photographing the ten cemeteries located in Lubbock County, Texas, an area of 900 square miles. I located and took shots of all except one, Estacado Cemetery. Seems I was headed down the right road, but met with a small herd (3) of horses who thought I was the vehicle that usually delivers their meals. Wish I'd caught them with my Nikon chasing me in my rear view mirror! I shall return and get that photo, horses be damned.

Not sure the caption feature is working, so I shall endeavor to label each photo, from L to R, Top to Bottom.
1-2 Becton Cemetery — 16202 North County Road 3600
3-4 Peaceful Gardens Memorial Park — 15002 S Highway 87
5-6 Englewood Cemetery — 1100 N 20th Street, Slaton, TX
7-8 Idalou Cemetery — 10802 E Highway 62-82, Idalou, TX
9-12 City of Lubbock Cemetery — 2011 E 31st Street
13-14 Resthaven Cemetery — 5740 19th Street, Lubbock, TX
15-16 County Line Cemetery — FM 179 and FM 597
[photograph courtesy of the Internet]
17-18 Wolfforth Cemetery — W 5th Street & Quitsna, Wolfforth
19-20 Carlisle Cemetery — 7302 19th Street, Lubbock, TX
21 Estacado Cemetery — 13202 North County Road 3900
[photograph courtesy of the Internet]

MY BOOK WORLD ENCORE: A Small But Beautiful World

10/10/2025

Somehow, I've gotten behind in my reading and have nothing new to profile! Perhaps it is because I am currently reading A Century of Fiction in the New Yorker, over 1,000 pages. Perhaps it is because I've had company this past weekend, when I often finish up my blog posts for the week. In any case, I extend to you an invitation to revisit (or visit) a blog post from March 3, 2014, where I review A. J. Ackerley's We Think the World of You.

A WRITER'S WIT: JANE COOPER

10/9/2025

For if my poems have always been about survival—and I believe they have been —then survival too keeps revealing itself as an art of the unexpected.
Jane Cooper, Poet
Author of The Weather of Six Mornings
Born October 9, 1924

J. Cooper

Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | TBD
TUES 10/14: A Writer's Wit | Katherine Mansfield
WEDS 10/15: A Writer's Wit | Roxane Gay
THURS 10/16: A Writer's Wit | Günter Grass

A WRITER'S WIT: FRANCISQUE SARCEY

10/8/2025

It's no disgrace to be Belgian, but one should also not boast about it.
Francisque Sarcey
Author of Mind Your Eyes: Advice to the Short-Sighted by Their Fellow Sufferer
Born October 8, 1827

F. Sarcey

Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Jane Cooper
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Nora Roberts
My Book World | TBD

A WRITER'S WIT: MICHELLE ALEXANDER

10/7/2025

African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell prohibited drugs than whites, but they are made criminals at drastically higher rates for precisely the same conduct.
Michelle Alexander
Author of The New Jim Crow
Born October 7, 1967

M. Alexander

Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Francisque Sarcey
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Jane Cooper
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Nora Roberts
My Book World | TBD

STROUT TELLS ALL

10/3/2025

A WRITER'S WIT
We are the United States of Amnesia, which is encouraged by a media that has no desire to tell us the truth about anything, serving their corporate masters who have other plans to dominate us.
Gore Vidal
Author of Myra Breckinridge
Born October 3, 1925

G. Vidal

MY BOOK WORLD

Strout, Elizabeth. Tell Me Everything: A Novel. New York: Random, 2024.

In this nonlinear novel, as is Strout’s style, it is as if she gathers together all the characters she’s ever written into her novels and catches us up on all their doings. And she does. Within the range of several Maine towns (people are always driving from one to another to shop or see someone they know), back and forth she travels until she brings everyone’s story up-to-date.

However, there is one character who garners more attention than others, a lawyer named Bob Burgess. When speaking with a friend, it is clear that said friend is about to be accused of murdering his mother years earlier, and Bob agrees to take on his case in court. Bob has his own problems. In childhood, he apparently takes the fall for accidentally killing his father, when it is actually his older brother who’s done it (an even more likely possibility will surface). And then there’s good old Olive Kitteridge, now ninety-one, living an apartment by herself. Author Lucy Barton stops by every so often and the two women swap “stories,” usually with a whiff of sordidness or at least . . . something curiosity-making. Makes me want to re-read all nine of the author’s books I’ve read as well as the two I haven’t! I’ve sung Strout’s praises before, and I’m going to do so again here. She knows how to tell stories that are interesting and appealing to a broad range of people. Get hooked on her, like I have!

Up Next:
MON 10/06: WHAT I'M THINKING ... IF ANYTHING
TUES 10/07: A Writer's Wit | Michelle Alexander
WEDS 10/08: A Writer's Wit | Francisque Sarcey
THURS 10/09: A Writer's Wit | Jane Cooper
FRI 10/03: A Writer's Wit | Nora Roberts
My Book World | TBD

A WRITER'S WIT: TERENCE WINTER

10/2/2025

Any abhorrent behavior is more interesting to me. I’m always amazed when somebody asks me, “Why don’t you write something about nice people?” Because nice people are boring, that’s why.
Terence Winter
Author of TV Series Boardwalk Empire
Born October 2, 1960

T. Winter

Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything
TUES 10/07: A Writer's Wit | Michelle Alexander
WEDS 10/08: A Writer's Wit | Francisque Sarcey
THURS 10/09: A Writer's Wit | Jane Cooper

A WRITER'S WIT: FAITH BALDWIN

10/1/2025

Sometimes there is a greater lack of communication in facile talking than in silence.
Faith Baldwin
Author of The Moon's Our Home
Born October 1, 1893

F. Baldwin

Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Terence Winter
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Gore Vidal
My Book World | Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything

A WRITER'S WIT: LAURA ESQUIVEL

9/30/2025

As a teacher I realize that what one learns in school doesn't serve for very much at all, that the only thing one can really learn is self understanding and this is something that can't be taught.
Laura Esquivel
Author of Like Water for Chocolate
Born September 30, 1950

L. Esquivel

Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Faith Baldwin
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Terence Winter
FRI: A Writer's Wit | Gore Vidal
My Book World | Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything

SECOND OF BORDEAUX SERIES

9/26/2025

A WRITER'S WIT
The immature poet imitates; the mature poet plagiarizes.
T. S. Eliot, Poet
Author of Four Quartets
Born September 26, 1888

T. S. Eliot

MY BOOK WORLD

Massie, Allan. Dark Summer in Bordeaux. London: Quartet, 2012.

Something comforting about sequels or book series: the same characters, some nice, some not. Rather like a family with whom you become reacquainted, and, good or bad, you can’t wait to see them again. So true with Massie’s four-book offering set during World War II.

Near the end of Death in Bordeaux, Lannes, la police judiciaire detective, manages to see that his son Dominique is released from his military POW camp in Germany. It is through a Faustian deal that he accomplishes this feat, but the act pleases Lannes’s wife no end, not to mention Lannes himself and his other two children. The family is once again intact. The murder from the first book, Death in Bordeaux, remains a secret, but now Lannes is faced with a new situation just as diabolical as in his first novel.

I thought the gay character (corpse with his penis in his mouth) was a one-off, but not so. In this sequel, Léon, a young chap who works in a bookshop (for the man whose brother was murdered) is quietly gay himself, not to mention being good friends with Lannes’s son, Alain, who is straight. Well. A young German soldier begins to flirt with Léon when he comes into the bookshop. Turns out they are being observed by an enemy operative who wishes to entrap the soldier. He enlists young Léon by raping him and saying that worse will happen if he does not help him to snare his German quarry. Reluctantly, but realizing he has no choice, Léon does the operative’s bidding. Later, the soldier will kill himself.

There is much more to this sequel which kept me turning the pages faster than the first one, and if you’re into sort-of murder mysteries, more thrillers, actually, then you may like this series. Oh, and this book might be renamed The Unsaid. Throughout there exist any number of inner monologues in which Lannes and others voice only through their thoughts what they would like to say aloud. Perhaps Massie is suggesting what it is like to live in German-occupied France during World War II. Effective in any case. Mum’s the word!

One caveat: the publisher does not seem to employ a very competent copy editor. Each book has close to a half-dozen errors in each (in Dark Summer, page 89, one main character’s name, Miriam, is misspelled, M-i-r-i-a-n). This kind of sloppiness spoils an otherwise pleasant reading experience.

Up Next:
MON 9/29: WHAT I'M THINKING ...
TUES 9/30: A Writer's Wit | Laura Esquivel
WEDS 10/01: A Writer's Wit | Faith Baldwin
THURS 10/02: A Writer's Wit | Terence Winter
FRI 10/03: A Writer's Wit | Gore Vidal
My Book World | TBD

A WRITER'S WIT: BARBARA WALTERS

9/25/2025

The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it’s also full of fourth-rate readers.
Barbara Walters
Co-Author of How to Talk with Practically Anybody About Practically Anything
Born September 25, 1929

B. Walters

Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Allan Massie, Dark Summer in Bordeaux
TUES 9/30: A Writer's Wit | Laura Esquivel
WEDS 10/01: A Writer's Wit | Faith Baldwin
THURS 10/02: A Writer's Wit | Terence Winter

A WRITER'S WIT: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

9/24/2025

You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Author of The Great Gatsby
Born September 24, 1896

F. S. Fitzgerald

Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Barbara Walters
FRI: A Writer's Wit | T. S. Eliot
My Book World | Allan Massie, Dark Summer in Bordeaux

A WRITER'S WIT: LIZ MURRAY

9/23/2025

Like my mother, I was always saying, “I'll fix my life one day.” It became clear when I saw her die without fulfilling her dreams that my time was now or maybe never.
Liz Murray, Memoirist and Speaker
Subject of Film, Homeless to Harvard
Born September 23, 1980

L. Murray

Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | F. Scott Fitzgerald
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Barbara Walters
FRI: A Writer's Wit | T. S. Eliot
My Book World | Allan Massie, Dark Summer in Bordeaux

WHAT I'M THINKING . . . MURDER, NEVER AN ANSWER

9/22/2025

WHAT I’M THINKING is now a probably infrequent feature of my blog. In it, I shall feel free (I hope) to share my thinking about any number of topics that matter to me and may matter to my readers, whether they be regular subscribers or those who stop along the way to somewhere else. Today's post is longer than my preferred 600-800 word length, but I have a lot to say!

When I heard that Charlie Kirk had been assassinated on September 10, I, for a moment, went dead. It was similar to the feeling I’ve had every time a public figure in our country has been killed—beginning at age fifteen when my political hero John F. Kennedy was struck down. And in 1981, when my fifth-grade students cheered upon hearing Reagan had been shot, I roared, “Hey, hey, haaaay,” and shared with them the dead feeling I once again felt. Never mind that I didn’t agree with a single one of Reagan’s policies, couldn’t stand the sight of him, the sound of his greasy voice. No one had a right to take a shot at the man. Killing was not the answer.

After Kirk’s demise, a better angel seemed to appear on my shoulder (right or left? I can’t recall), once again suggesting (nay, insisting) that killing is never an answer to a disagreement: Thou shalt not kill. The angel’s darker cousin sat on my other shoulder and whispered, Perhaps Charlie reapeth what he soweth? Funny thing, I read in a newspaper article that a schoolteacher who posted those very words online (reap/sow) was summarily fired or suspended. Stupid of her. Teachers are public figures, in their own way, and they must be excruciatingly discriminating about what they post on social media. But . . . I have a feeling many of us are lambasted with the same conflict: the intellectualization that killing is horribly wrong and the visceral, almost Neanderthal conviction that maybe the guy got what was coming to him. LET ME BE CLEAR: I do NOT believe that. Yet think about it: Though Kirk said in so many (and I mean MANY) words that he was a Christian, methinks perhaps other words and actions of his were not so kind. To vilify people of color, LGBTQ persons, anyone who doesn’t fit the politically correct image for SuperWhiteChristianNationalism—which Charlie did with great vigor—is an action that does not quack like the duck of Christendom I was brought up with (and yet rejected, I must confess, for its own prejudices against LGBTQ persons). I acknowledge I should not judge poor Charlie and his followers, lest I be judged myself and quite harshly. I don’t want to get shot for publicly stating my opinion, for Christ’s sake!

Ah, fear of being shot. That is an interesting proposition. In my opinion, the second amendment to the Constitution is an ambiguous, even poorly written statement. Perhaps it is not even grammatical, one that does not clearly state what it may (or may not) imply—sounding as if it were hastily tossed off one afternoon because its authors were, well, tired—which I believe some sources say the men involved were. Tired.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Of course, I am wrong. The assertion is grammatical, “well regulated Militia” being the subject of the sentence followed by a double appositive (perhaps), and then the verb phrase, “shall not be infringed.” But do we as a nation follow it, do we really live by it? Let’s see, yes we do possess perhaps one of the best and most well regulated militias in the world if you consider only our professional military forces. God, yes. Our soldiers are fine sharpshooters also imbued with restraint and trained to employ judgment (wait till you see the whites of their eyes).

It is our PRIVATE militia that gives me pause. In their defense, millions of American gun owners, in fact, the majority of them, have never and will never, in all probability, kill another human being. Why? Because they’ve been trained by a loving father or other relative (Aunt Annie Oakley) to know when to shoot and when not. Or perhaps they’ve taken lessons from a professional staff. In any case, they’ve been trained to maintain and store weapons safely. A neighbor or friend might not even realize that they own guns. These good citizens we must protect. They participate in legal hunting which helps keep herd counts down among certain species (us poor Texans and our javelina infestation). These good citizens are at the ready if a neighbor should need them. They are prepared if someone should invade their home, their private space of any kind. But what about our private militia members who have not been trained?

Millions more of these untrained gunowners exist, and we must ask ourselves, are these parties being well regulated, as our dear second amendment suggests so lightly but clearly? In the name of safety we already require that automobile drivers must pass written and driving tests to secure a license—even if thousands still die yearly from accidents. Is our private militia well regulated when almost anyone can buy a gun of any type, including military-style automatic weapons engineered to kill people FAST? Is our private militia well regulated when absolutely no one is required to be trained (as our professional militia is) or required to pass basic tests over weaponry and state and federal laws concerning gun ownership and safety? Is it well regulated when anyone can buy any kind of weapon online without the knowledge of any governing board or governmental (state or federal) authority of any kind? Is it well regulated when anyone can attend one the myriad gun shows staged across America and purchase any kind of weapon including military weapons capable of killing huge numbers of human beings?

I say not. This huge mélange of people and their firearms are NOT being well regulated. What to do about it? It’s going to take the will of congress and a courageous president to change things. And it will take the will of a great flood of people to make that kind of congress truly representative of what a majority of Americans vote. If a variety of national polls are to be believed, the majority of Americans long for gun safety laws of some kind. O Master Google AI declares on the day I’m writing this piece:

Polls have shown strong support for
-Universal background checks (87%)
-Red flag laws (77%)
-Licensing requirements (72%)
-Safe storage laws (79%)
-Raising the age to buy a gun to 21 (81%)
-Prohibiting individuals with temporary domestic violence
protection orders from having guns (82%).

Would such laws eliminate all school shootings and political assassinations, not to mention the “little” assassinations taking place in our neighborhoods every day? I should say not. But would it not be better to save as many lives as possible, instead of relying on thoughts and prayers to get us through to the next killing field? I say yes. To so-called Originalist interpreters of the Constitution I declare: When the second amendment was written, it took perhaps 30 seconds to reload a musket. Take note, supreme court justices: Times have changed, and so should your thinking; you’re not being consistent if you believe a musket is equal to an AR-15 in any manner! Moreover, other industrialized countries, including Australia and most western European countries, already have established effective gun laws. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from other nations, what laws work and what ones don’t, and strive toward a more perfect union for us all—if that’s what we the majority really want. And I believe it is.

Even if I didn’t concur with Kirk, I feel a dead spot in my life because of his loss. No matter the politician, no matter the individual you may disagree with , murder is never the answer.

LAZY AVIATOR, Her AMBITIOUS HUSBAND

9/19/2025

A WRITER'S WIT
The reader always knows better what a book is about than the writer.
William Golding
Author of Lord of the Flies
Born September 19, 1911

W. Golding

MY BOOK WORLD

Shapiro, Laurie Gwen. The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon. New York: Viking, 2025.

I grew up in the state of Kansas, and, as a child I heard a lot about aviatrix Amelia Earhart. The ironic thing I learn from this biography is that she and her family don’t spend all that much time in her hometown of Atchison. Yet her brief life there is foundational because her well-to-do grandparents see to it that she and her sister are educated by way of local elite schools. Amelia will later graduate from Columbia University in NYC. Another surprise for me: Although Earhart does become a noted pilot, her main career is that of social worker, and she stays with it a number of years before beginning to devote more time to aviation.

Most readers realize how and when Earhart is going to die, but Shapiro does seem to “foreshadow” Amelia’s path to that end throughout the book, beginning with “However, dating an aviator came with exasperating asterisks, and Sam lived in fear that he might one day discover his sometimes girlfriend, whose commitment he was finally winning over, had perished, despite spending hours in the field” (68). In addition, Amelia experiences several aviation failures, including crashes that destroy a number of expensive airplanes.

The book skillfully weaves together the stories of two individuals, Amelia Earhart and her husband George Palmer Putnam, and both narratives are important in order to understand the couple as a “unit.” Putnam is heir to the Putnam and Sons publishing empire, but though George works there for some time, he never flourishes to the degree that he becomes qualified to take over the reins when the opportunity arises. Instead, he becomes sort of a high-class huckster, selling (mostly) literary talent—but most especially he promotes the aviation career of his wife. Earhart, it turns out, isn’t as disciplined as she should be. For one, she doesn’t put in enough flight hours to be top-notch, and later on, particularly during her final hours over the Pacific Ocean, her failure to master Morse code will more than likely affect her ability to handle the perilous situation she sets up for herself and her alcoholic navigator, Fred Noonan (yet another error in judgment, but because of her weak reputation she can’t find a more reputable person to fly with her).

Shapiro sums up Earhart’s epic failure in 1937 this way: “The technical limitations of Amelia’s onboard equipment soon became apparent. Inadequate equipment, an off-calibrated compass, and erroneous chart coordinates converged into a navigational catastrophe. These issues, worsened by unexpected headwinds and a major navigational deviation, led to a bleak conclusion: Amelia Earhart and Fred Noon had vanished, possibly due to running out of fuel. Luck had been a lady before, but this time, she could no longer outrun fate” (388).

Though Shapiro is an excellent journalist and writer, I can’t help but be put off by some typos and sloppy copyediting:

Here Shapiro is writing in the past tense but then she shifts to the present for no apparent reason: “When the crayon heiress felt that a bigger house was needed and asked her parents for the money, George couldn’t be more pleased” (14). “. . . couldn’t have been more pleased” seems the preferable usage here, and I wonder why a copyeditor doesn’t catch the slip.

Needless repetition: “George told the candidate that he wanted to do one more discreet background check but would report back as soon as he could” (88). How about eliminating the second “back”?

Needless repetition: “. . . a protective smile gracing her face as memories of her own childhood curiosities flooded back. With her background as a social worker . . .” (148). How about “flooding into her mind” or similar?

Needless repetition: “. . . leaving him furious after defeat. After Elinor underwent . . .” (182). How about replacing the first “after” with “following”?

Needless repetition: “She recounted an encounter with a flock of pigeons . . .” (283). These are both embedded in other words but repetition is still avoidable. How about “She recounted a set-to with a flock of pigeons”?

Overall, I wish to say that the book is a very satisfying read, especially for fans of Amelia Earhart. It certainly gives readers a fuller and more accurate view of the woman’s life than the short feature I was forced to teach my sixth graders from the basal reader in the 1980s. Nothing there indicated Fred Noonan’s alcoholism or Earhart’s shortcomings.

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