04/12/24: Friday Weekly Roundup
Summary and links to my Medium posts this week
I try to record and share my dreams each morning, the week starting with images that triggered memories of the most intense hallucination, had while tripping on a Chicago beach in high school. Adapted from an earlier short story, I tweaked it and reshared it here, with additional thoughts…
Few experiences are more satisfying and rewarding than being thoroughly immersed in a project, especially if the work is open-ended and pleasing. Luck comes in streaks on the poker table, and productivity does in life — so when the timing feels right and the star align, go for it!
The rapid IDF withdrawal from Gaza on Sunday seemed inexplicable, unless the explanation was regrouping to engage on a second front. Their prior invasion of Lebanon was a disaster that essentially created Hezbollah, but the Israelis seem to be learning nothing from history:
The more I thought about the latest news from the Middle East, the more strongly I felt that an invasion of southern Lebanon is inevitable, and maybe even imminent. I speculate further here about the forces that seem to be driving the entire region to an even more catastrophic escalation…
The past sixth months have been calamitous for Israel and Palestine, with no endgame in sight. A comment on a recent post asked for my opinion on the conflict, inspiring me to create another mini-anthology of my blogs to date on the war, and speculation where it’s headed…
A fan of the “neoclassical” rock guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen (a blog about him coming soon, too), I remember how the excitement and pressure of building a new home studio fueled the creative frenzy of arguably his best album in years, Magnum Opus. By analogy, I riff here…
For a few months now I’ve been resharing my Medium posts on Substack, and through the email bombing (some might call it spamming) have reconnected with former colleagues and old friends. Erika from Chicago is one of them, and here I reshare a poetic gem…
I’m not the only one raging about the Israel-Palestine conflict, of course. Intelligent and balance discourse is tough to find, though, and my friend Ali is one of the few making sense of it. I joined him on a livestream conversation this week, captured here in video and with a transcript…
Short of collaborating, resharing the works of other artists and writers is as enriching. I’ve had a satisfying tennis match with the Venezuelan writer Teódulo López Meléndez, translating and reposting each other’s blogs for several iterations. Our different styles makes it even more fun:
More blogs being blogged, feedback always welcome and appreciated…
MOOKIE
