Somerset and the Supreme Solace

Art by Igor Morski

“Writing is the supreme solace,” said Somerset Maugham. “You shut the door, and within half an hour you have completely forgotten all the petty vexations that were previously occupying your thoughts and weighing you down … you are a free man again and whatever the ultimate fate of your work, no one else could have made a precisely similar pattern of words upon the page. It is yours and yours alone.”

The same could be said of all the arts. Those who can’t or won’t try them have been cheated or have cheated themselves out of one of life’s finer things.

That Texas Miracle You've Heard So Much About

As Michael Bell put it, "This should be used as an example of corporate terrorism. The attacks on regulation, slandering of unions and the disregard for worker safety are some of tools that have led to more dead and injured from the West Fertilizer Plant explosion than the Boston Marathon bombing. Why is there no unified national outcry for justice in Texas?"

The Day Boston Stood Still

WCVB Channel 5 Boston's photo

The Only Thing Fox News Can Confirm Is Its Complete Corruption

Unclear on the concept of "confirmation." Lying propagandists often are, I find.

The Blog of Steel

Happy 75th birthday anyway, big guy.

Suave and Urbane

Somerset Maugham, then in his 70s, on his two 16th floor rooms at the Plaza in New York in the fall of 1945. "Everyone who comes in says: what a beautiful view of the park you have and I say: yes, it's a beautiful view of the park. Then they say: it must be simply lovely at night, and I say: yes, it's simply lovely at night. Then they say: you know, I'm never tired of this view and then I say: will you have a cocktail and they say: yes, and turn their back on the view with a sigh of relief." 
Maugham could be a quite a handful of cold potatoes, but he was undeniably suave and urbane.
— quote from "Maugham" by Ted Morgan

It Came From Another Century

Something approaching a quarter of contemporary Americans actually represents the 19^th century. Soaked in strange superstitions, despising science and reason, they are flint-hearted enough to worship robber barons. They’d be comfortable with slavery, if it came to that. The 20^th century never really touched them, let alone the 21^st.

We’ve spent decades trying to ignore them, largely out of politeness because their beliefs, unworthy of debate, are embarrassing when found in adults. But they won’t leave us alone, and we’re going to have to put them in their place.