Leon Russell

 

Thats why romance is so hard you have ribe open and honest while you lie through your teeth.

Others words to say how ww feel 

 

That's what I wrote last night whilst in the throes of drug-induced delirium. Here's what I remember about it:

I was just about to tumble into sleep when Leon Russell's "A Song For You" began to play. I'd heard the song before, but never really listened to the lyrics. This time, they hit me. Some of the lines reminded me of my friend Pat.

I know your image of me
Is what I hope to be
...
There's no one more important to me

... 

I love you in a place where there's no space and time

I love you for my life, you are a friend of mine

And when my life is over

Remember when we were together

 

It's a beautiful song, and hearing it and thinking of Pat jolted me out of my stupor long enough for me to text a link to a performance of the song along with the comment that even though there were some things about the lyrics that didn't fit (the stuff I left out above), I immediately thought of her.

 

After she replied (thanks, touched) I thought about texting back again. I was going to say, 

"Isn't it funny how sometimes we need the words of others to express how we feel?"  And then I thought about that and I thought, "That's why romance is so hard: you have to appear to be open and honest while lying through your teeth."

 

Which isn't completely true, of course...but there's some truth in it. Plus I think it's funny.

 

ANYway...it's a beautiful song. Check it out if you're not familiar with it.

 

The Book I Just Started Reading Today: Karl Ove Knausgård's Winter

 

I wasn't all that thrilled with the first book in this series (Autumn), but it was a foregone conclusion that I would read Winter because (1) I bought it from the bargain shelf at Half-Price Books before I'd read Autumn and (2) it has beautiful illustrations. Like this one:

Who could resist that? Not me. So I bought it...$4...and then got the first volume from the library and the rest is history. The library also has Spring and Summer, so I'll probably carry on through...but here's hoping that Karl Ove doesn't spend too much time explaining toilets and such (as he did in Autumn--I shit thee not).

News as it happens.

The Book I'm About to Read: I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov

2/12/26

I've had this one on my shelf for many years. Decades. But I've never read it. Despite the fact that I'm quite fond of both Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov. Mostly because though I've read quite a few Harlan Ellison books, that was a long time ago, back in the Pyramid Ellison days...and when I got the itch to re-read him awhile back I chose Memos From Purgatory, and that ground me to a halt. In it, Ellison, undercover as a gang member, commits statutory rape, intimidates old people, and does other unsavory things. I don't think you can use Writer's Research as a cloak for that kind of shit. Also, in the second part of the book when Ellison is jailed for a weapons violation, he is incredibly whiny about what amounts to a very short time of incarceration. It's a bit histrionic, to say the least.

But that was then, this is now. I have read 49 Isaac Asimov books in succession. I wanted something special for my 50th. So I chose this.

🤞

2/16/26

I don't usually read my Asimov books this quickly. But I have to admit that even though there were great flaws in this script, I did find it a compelling read. As for the flaws, most of them were just Harlan Ellison being Harlan Ellison. He tends to write characters who explode into anger and violence at the slightest provocation...a kind of wild macho perspective. And his dialogue often suffers from affectation. "You're bugfuck! I'm bugfuck, too!" FF'sS.

So...50 Asimov books down now. Starting #51 tomorrow. 

Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie

 

I've seen a few of the movies based on Agatha Christie novels (the Kenneth Branaugh ones...were there two or three?), but I've never read any of her books. My friend Susanne's mother is a big A.C. fan, though, so I'm always on the lookout for stuff related to The Dame, and when I spotted this graphic biography at the library, I picked it up.

It's a nice looking little book: sewn binding, good European style art (whatever that means; I can't define it, but I know it when I see it):

 

I think it has something to do with an uncluttered, open look and slightly wobbly "straight" lines.  Some of the character illustrations reminded me of Chester Brown, who is still one of my favorite artists:

The writing was very smoothly carried along, largely on the back of interactions between Agatha and her creation, Hercule Poirot. It made for interesting confrontations as Agatha was not overly fond of Hercule, and also allowed for "natural" meta-commentary on both Agatha's life and her writings. 

A very satisfying and quick read.

I'm thinking I might need go read some Agatha Christie in the near future. But which one? She wrote a lot.

According to this book, Agatha Christie's own two favorite novels were Crooked House and Ordeal By Innocence. She also wrote an autobiography: An Autobiography. You've gotta love that, right?

Somewhere along the line I also remembered that I had seen the movie Agatha when it came out in 1979...starring Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie, Dustin Hoffman as Wally Stanton, and Timothy Dalton as Archie Christie. I don't remember anything about it, but I would like to see it again now. And since it's the 21st Century...here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQj23PTy6cQ.

☮ ➡

DDR: Their Accomplices Wore Robes: How the Supreme Court Chained Black America to the Bottom of a Racial Caste System by Brando Simeo Starkey

 

This is a big book...672 pages. 

Day 1 (DDRD 3,018) February 5, 2026

Read to page 30.

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson said, "I advance it...as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to whites both in body and mind...." (11)

Thomas Jefferson! What the actual fuck!

 

Day 2 (DDRD 3,019) February 6, 2026

Read to page 64.

The subject matter of this book is compelling and horrifying, and I'm pretty sure that I will continue to forge my way through it, but Starkey is not a good writer. He tries to make his narrative more immediate by placing the reader into it, which is a bit forced. He also relies upon repeated phrases such as "We the People" far too much. I am currently on page 46, and I would estimate that he has used that phrase at least 100 times (no hyperbole*). He also has a very bizarre way of wording some thoughts. For instance, "Some thought Black men need not the ballot."(47) That is some strange syntax.

In fact, I found his writing so bad that I looked up a video to see how he spoke. I found several short ones, which seemed fine, so I thought I would check out a longer one. I found this one, with a rather startling picture at the front, of Supreme Court justices in Ku Klux Klan roNow.

https://youtu.be/cZT6kkf6_fA?si=VmvYHnBHDjaLru0m

It's actually an image I've had in my mind since I picked this book up and was planning to photoshop, but I suppose, I don't have to now.

Starkey also regularly (and by that I mean far too often) refers to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Ammendments to the Constitution as "the Trinity," which I find (1) too cute by half and (2) inappropriate in that the religious connotations of the word are inescapable. 

* He uses the phrase 5 times on page 46, for instance.

Day 3 (DDRD 3,020) February 7, 2026

Read to page 100.

William Woods Holden called the Ku Klux Klan the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party" and said that they "had caused the defeats of Republican candidates through voter intimidation and brownbeat [sic] state officials into discharging their duties in ways the Klan demanded." (65) Oh, how doth the 🪱 turn.

Another turn of the 🪱: "The states' rights party lacked feasible means to attract southern black voters, and reducing them to nonvoters would help." (70)

All of this talk about Republicans being the good guys fighting for Black rights, especially voting rights, led me to check current political party demographics. Here's what I found:

https://www.google.com/search?q=racial+demographics+of+political+party&oq=racial+demographics+of+polit&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMg0IAhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoF0gEKMjA1NjZqMGoyOagCALACAQ&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#lfId=ChxjMe

Hmmmm.

Day 4 (DDRD 3,021) February 8, 2026

Read to page 137.

After the confusing election of 1876, on February 8th 1877, a consortium of 15 gave the election to Rutherford B. Hayes. As a result, Federal troops (sent to defend Black folks) were removed from the South: "Republicans had concluded that claiming the mantle of Black rights hamstrung their political ambitions." (111)

Nothing new under the fuckin' 🌞,  is there? 

Day 5 (DDRD 3,022) February 9, 2026

Read to page 159.

Mississippi Plan 1875

😔 😟 😠 😡 

Day 6 (DDRD 3,023) February 10, 2026

Read to page 192. To reiterate: I'm not a fan of Starkey's writing style. He continues to write grammatically incorrect sentences (including sentence fragments), intrusive authorial addresses to the reader (e.g., "Come now and we'll take a look at _____ ), and annoying euphemisms ("The Trinity" for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Ammendments, "We thePeople" for the Constitution). These subject matter, however,  is riveting (and horrifying). And so I soldier on. 672 - 190 = 482 pages to go, ÷ 30 = 16 days. I can do that.

Day 7 (DDRD 3,024) February 11, 2026

Read to page 223. (15 🍺 🧱....)

"People work hard and follow the rules if they believe they can win." (201)

Which is kind of the whole story? And look at the converse: if you believe that you can't win, if you believe that the game is rigged, then you will not work hard and you will not follow the rules. Why would you? To do so would be stupid.

Day 8 (DDRD 3,025) February 12, 2026

Read to page 254. 

A white Southerner meets Booker T Washington and tells him, "Say, you are a great man. You are the greatest man in this country!" Booker. T. downplayed the praise, but the man shook his head and reiterated, "Yes, sir, the greatest man in this country." Roosevelt, Booker T. responded, deserved that honor. "Huh! Roosevelt?" he replied. "I used to think that Roosevelt was a great man until he ate dinner with you. That settled him for me." (228)

Ummm...what?

"Laziness and shiftlessness, these, and above all, vice and criminality of every kind, are evils more potent for harm to the black race than all acts of oppression of white men put together...." (241) That's beloved President Theodore Roosevelt speaking. For fuck's sake.

Day 9 (DDRD 3,026) February 13, 2026

Read to page 287. So many racist white men in our history.... 😔 

I'm thinking that I should read a biography of Lyndon Johnson. What made him sign the Civil Rights law? 

This

looks like it might do the job. The library has an e-book, but I'm thinking I want a real book.

Day 10 (DDRD 3,027) February 14, 2026

Read to page 320. 

Day 11 (DDRD 3,028) February 15, 2026

Read to 350. A big book. An important book. But it's getting kind of boring, I'm sorry to say. Part if it is Starkey's writing style, which is wearing me out. Does be have to give physical descriptions of every character as s/he walks onto the scene? (Does it natter if a lawyer is fat, has a pointy beard, and brown eyes?) Sheesh.

Day 12 (DDRD 3,029) February 16, 2026

Read to page 380. This book has mentioned both Louisville and Baltimore  (my hometown) several times. 

I had friends who went to Catonsville High School. Glad to say that it was about four decades later, so hopefully things had changed by then. Still check this out:

Black students who wanted to continue their education after the 7th grade had to take a test...which over 70% failed...in order to go to high school. No test for the White kids, though.

Shameful.

Day 13 (DDRD 3,030) February 17, 2026

Read to page 

I am amazed at how many times I read things in this book that show how far back this country's racist policies go. For instance, "the Reagan administration acts as if the white male is the minority...." (385) Sound familiar? Apparently Reagan was doing his best to destroy DEI initiatives--possibly before that term was even in use. Why do the people of this country have such hatred for people of color? It baffles me.

"Reynolds and like-minded Reagan administration officials taught the conservative movement, which included Supreme Court justices, that it should convert the Fourteenth Amendment into a tool to protect White racial advantages and showed how to accomplish the feat while wearing men like Howard, Harlan, Marshall, and King as masks, appreciating that this presented an avenue to promote their constitutional vision with the public." (392) Again...sound familiar? (Looking at you, Tim Scott.)