Content

The contest's over
I'm in the lead
What I have
Is all I need

Thus Saith

TOLERANCE

Is a one-way street,

But it’s the better way

God

Fio is fascinated by the ways we have remade God in our own image through the centuries.  At one point, he was seen as a powerful king, then, in the New World, as an angry father.  Now we see God as more beneficent.  It's all a matter of humanizing God--trying to understand what cannot be understood.

And that's the sort of thing Fiorella thinks about.

Liars, Case #2

AW started out as the director of a student-help program at the small rural college where Fiorella was stationed.  On the side he taught philosophy.  His field was ontology--ironically, the study of reality.

A was an arresting figure--tall, athletically slim, probably in  his fifties, white hair and beard.  His voice was soft, but his presence was commanding.  Fio enjoyed his friendship--he hobnobbed with the administrators and passed on lots of juicy gossip--but there were a few things about him that bothered her.   Her stomach sank when she checked his website and saw that his master's had come from the University of South Africa and his doctorate from the University of Wales.  Even though A explained he had been an investment broker at the time and traveled a lot, she knew something wasn't right.

There were other clues.  He didn't seem to understand that one received a "doctor of philosophy" in a specific field, like linguistics or--or philosophy.  And he told people that he and Fio had known each other from when they had both taught at Austin Community College, which wasn't true. Besides, why was his ex-wife so mad at him? And why did he say he'd attend Fio's housewarming, then not show?  Ditto for the retirement party she threw for a colleague? After all, Fio had told A that Husband had majored in philosophy at one time. Wouldn't he have enjoyed discussing Kant and Kierkegaard with him? And how did A have the time to teach distance -learning classes for a prestigious New England college in addition to everything else he was doing?  And how could a person who had supposedly written a doctoral dissertation compose such a piss-poor blurb for his latest POD oeuvre?

Then A applied for the position of department chair and his credentials were checked.  No master's, no doctorate.  He was walked off campus by the college police.

Later Fio learned that previous to his academic career, A had received a cease and desist order from the state of Michigan for irregularities in his brokerage business. 







 

Deep Thought

Fiorella thinks it's sweet that there are people out there dedicated to preserving rare species of salamanders, but she's not one of them.  Species live and species die--consider all the long-ago human species that have recently turned up dead.

No, Fiorella is more concerned about people, each individual a species in himself.  She's concerned about how people treat each other and about what they do with their lives before they waltz off to the great beyond. 

God has granted us long lives through the miracle of modern medicine.  Let's be worthy of His mercy.

Best Wishes to All

Fiorella, as you know, is extremely competitive. She likes to be top of the heap in whatever she is doing. And she keeps an eagle eye on those who are upward bound or maybe even besting her. But she wishes them well. It's the right thing to do.

Besides, it hurts less that way.

Heavy

What separates us from the beasts is that we humans live in deliberate fiction--our political beliefs, superstitions, entertainment, whatever. Animals have no illusions and no imaginations.

They're the sane ones.

Stray Throughts

Good ideas never die. They just hibernate. But bad ideas do the same.
*
Each mother's daughter is another chance at the person she wanted to be. We pass on our dreams, hoping they will fulfill them. But in realty, our only futures are our own. Except for Dina Lohan, of course.
*
Thank you, God, for the new day
That is all I have to say.

Life

One thing one can be certain of is that one can never be certain of anything. It seems that whatever one plans for falls through the cracks, the redeeming grace being that sooner or later another opportunity pops up out of the blue.

Fio wishes life were more regulated, more dependable, more logical, but it isn't. It always keeps us guessing.

Eyes, Neighborhood, Writing

Fio's recovery is progressing. The skin around her eyes has gone from red and black to yellow and purple.
*
Cedar Hollow Road looks like a drunken Arab wrote all over it with black tar, which means either a dribble truck drove down its length or the county is repairing cracks left by the winter freeze. Guess elections are right around the corner.
*
Fio got turned down by all three agents who expressed interest in her, which is discouraging. On the other hand, failure is the route to success

Truth to Tell

I am the only thing that is real. Everything else is just my perception. When I die, my universe will die too. Or perhaps it will follow me.

Fio Opines

The world is a scary place. There are so many awful things people are doing to each other. There's so much havoc caused by natural forces. What can one do about the horrible crimes people perpetrate against each other? About volcanoes and earthquakes and floods and fires?

Only what one can do, and often nothing. But please don't add to the toll. Tend your own garden and make it bloom.