Reflecting on Hurricane Katrina

Posted on 12 September 2005 by Michael Spence

My boss returned yesterday from Shreveport, Louisiana, where he helped to organize relief operations in Hurricane Katrina’s wake. Like other experiences of extreme conditions, the aftermath of the hurricane has shown us humanity at its best and at its worst.

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A weak moment

Posted on 21 August 2005 by Michael Spence

I can, therefore I am.
— Simone Weil

I once knew a woman like that. Man, the amount of zucchini, mincemeat, and rhubarb preserves she had stashed away in her cellar …

What?

Oh.

Never mind.

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Bad reasons not to write

Posted on 12 August 2005 by Michael Spence

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
— Salvador Dali

Would that I knew the context of this line, found in many quotation lists. In isolation it’s a good thought, enough so that I’m willing to risk ripping it out of context thus:

I happen to be (gasp!) over fifty. That in itself is no scandal: so is Robert Silverberg. So is Harlan Ellison. So is Ursula K. LeGuin. And so forth, and so on. What is regrettable is that my creative output isn’t even a bare fraction of theirs. And why is this? Because for the longest time I refused to write anything, convinced that whatever I did was either (a) “too much like …” or (b — et pardonnez-moi mon français) crap.

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Vintage literature

Posted on 20 May 2005 by Michael Spence

Placemats at local diners contain all kinds of strange and wonderful tidbits. Consider the following quotation found beneath the plates at The Nook in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, in an ad for the nearby Market Street Wineshop:

Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull. … If you keep an open mind and take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover.1

No argument here. But it occurs to me that the quotation would be just as true, if not more so, if for the two instances of the word wine you substituted literature and story (or poem, play, etc.). If you’re a teacher, may you never allow the magic to become ponderous — and blessings on you as you help the wonder in the words shine through!

  1. The quotation turns out to be from Kermit Lynch, Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France. [↩]
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Waiting for SERENITY

Posted on 22 April 2005 by Michael Spence

What you care about is the ships — and mine’s the nicest.
— Kaywinnit Lee “Kaylee” Frye

. . . and it was to have hit the screen today at A Theater Near You. But ’twas not to be, alas; the current release date is now 30 September, when we will have forgotten the assault of advertising for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Typo.1 (As they say on Vulcan, “Oy vey.”)

Ah, well. If you haven’t viewed all the episodes of the late and much-lamented Fox TV series Firefly, on which the film Serenity is based, the complete series is available on DVD and worth every nickel.

Meanwhile, until the end of September … just call me Dr. Browncoat and take me out to the black …

  1. Larry Niven once said that an SF author should always save typos, since you never know when one will come in handy as a name or an alien word. I always figured that’s where George Lucas got “Sith.”

    Which typo, you ask? The one where your left ring finger hits the S instead of the W. I have no idea which one you had in mind. [↩]

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Valuing persons 3

Posted on 18 April 2005 by Michael Spence

Observation on the preceding article: What I’ve called “assigned value” shows up all the time in the pricing of merchandise. How much is commodity X worth? Answer: Not what the maker thinks it’s worth, not the cost of the materials and labor that went into it, but what people will pay for it. They’ve assigned it its value. Continue reading →

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Valuing persons 2

Posted on 12 April 2005 by Michael Spence

At what point,” you say? Simple: The instant supply outstripped demand.

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This one’s for you, Dad

Posted on 3 April 2005 by Michael Spence

UVa board discusses brand possibilities
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors discussed the possibility of establishing a brand for the school.
— Charlottesville Daily Progress, 3 April 2005

Man, that’s harsh. Even at the University of Texas they just issue you an ID card.

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Valuing persons

Posted on 3 April 2005 by Michael Spence

At what point did human life become so cheap that we could afford to argue about its quality?

Just asking.

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George David Spence, 1922–2005: Requiescat in gaudio

Posted on 27 March 2005 by Michael Spence

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save!”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.
— E. M. Hall

My father, George Spence, passed away early Saturday morning, March 19, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Because he had been in a nursing facility for many months, dealing with Parkinson’s disease and a number of other difficulties, we had known that this day would come and so weren’t surprised. This is not, however, the same as being fully prepared for it. That may never have been possible.

Some people are all words and no action, while others are so active that others must speak of them. Continue reading →

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