Well, it’s been raining like crazy all day here in NYC, which seems appropriate in this post-Thanksgiving, election-weary time… It’s a perfect opportunity to send a quick blog off before November slips away.
I’ll start with the topic most of us still have agonizingly fresh in our minds. Yes - that Presidential Election didn’t go the way most of my friends here at michaelaba.com wanted. The whole election day, I - like I’m sure many of you - had an uneasy feeling, as if the polls might be wrong and my “cautious optimism” was in reality “blissful thinking”. I think my first suspicion a serious wrong-turn might happen occurred months ago, when I was editing the stories that appear in my book “Early Odds and Split Ends”. One of the first stories I ever wrote - way back when - appeared suddenly topical again; young, idealized college friends are gathered to discuss, among other things, the seemingly ridiculous state of a country that recently elected, of all things, an actor as its president. I noticed as I was rereading this that, well - say what you will about those eight years, but the country did survive. I thought this type of reflection might come in handy should another preposterous outcome materialize again…
The name of the story is “Bernard’s Conclusion” and we’ll be offering a free download as a holiday gift to everyone at michaelaba.com. I’m also offering my two other politically-tinged stories for free as well. “Pictures of My Campaign” (with its references to JFK, from the “Michelle” collection) and “My Deal With Malcom” (with it’s allusions to Richard Nixon, from the “Bingo Ray” collection). Two of these are comedies and one is not. Hopefully this will be obvious to anyone who is inclined to check them out.
Oh, and since now we are in the realms of another Holiday Season, “On This Lovely Christmas Eve” might be a fun song demo to listen to. Imagine this one being sung by someone who can actually sing…
I had this optimistic suspicion that the NYC rain would magically stop as soon as I finished writing this, as a sign that getting things off your chest will make everything better - but no, not yet. Just like I continue to wake up and think, damn - all that lying, losing all three debates, the inevitable consequences for the Supreme Court, the “Crooked Hillary” nonsense, the childish behavior… it all got rewarded with an electoral college win… Sigh… But, well - like I said, this was part of the theme of “Bernard’s Conclusion”, written back in ’82. So maybe we’ll survive this, too. (Although I’ll give you a quick FYI - this is the story that wasn’t a comedy…)
The Christmas blog will be more joyful - no question! Even if it means I have to stop watching TV from now on.
I’ll be in touch soon - and thanks for occasionally checking out what’s going on here at michaelaba.com. That long-awaited second Facebook post should be coming real soon!
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