– Definition: noun the perfect form or example of something : quintessence
– Used in a sentence: Fred Rogers is the apotheosis of a kind, smart, and decent teacher.
– Why: Despite the modern now-a-go-go dystopia we’re headed for, it’s important to know what to call our remaining best and brightest. Very important.
Category: Writ
My own serious stuff; the craft itself; literary (and authorial) inspiration; the art of reading.
Like A Man
“And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea? I have a heart that is inured to suffering, and I shall steel it to endure that too. … So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more.”
— Odysseus, in Homer’s The Odyssey (E. V. Rieu’s 1946 prose translation)
Modern Publicity 101
SOME STORIES DON’T build to a big finish. Like this one.
Earlier this month, I acquired the app and the gumption to begin grinding out 15-second podcasts. I printed a copy of all the “Pithyisms” on my blog so as to have a ready, checkoff-able script, and am currently recording them; I’ve done ten so far, with another eighty or so in the hopper. From small acorns mighty oaks grow, and all that.
The podcasting app (Spreaker Studio) belongs to iHeart Media, whose parent company curates a selection of worthy ‘casts whose inclusion is a big-time traffic-booster for big-time podcasters – specifically, the 5,000+-downloads-a-day crowd.
With a what-the-hell shrug, I applied anyway. To be honest, in the past 30 days I have racked up a whopping 16 downloads; but faint heart never won fair lady, and all that.
A few days after applying, I received a Microsoft Teams call from one of iHeart’s interviewing/vetting reps. We began by chatting amiably about shared geography, the weather patterns of Sonoma and Connecticut (the rep’s home base), and other trivia.
She then asked me what my podcast was about, and I told her that it was a varied selection of pithy comments on a variety of topics. She looked over my online catalog of episodes-so-far (without, apparently, listening to any of them) and made some useful comments about titling and formatting for maximum audience exposure. When I asked her what would make a good title, she asked me if I’d ever used ChatGPT. My long-established animus to that particular brand and type of cognitive surrender is well known to all, but when I politely said no, she said, “I’ll walk you through it.” And she did.
“What should I type?” I asked.
“Whatever your podcast is about,” she said.
So I typed out “How AI is taking over the world,” and pressed Enter.
In response, the Animated Insolence engine (copyright 2026 N.R.A.) spat out paragraph upon paragraph of corporate-speak which would have been amusing if it hadn’t been so absolutely, inaccurately, and unashamedly wrong.
“Wait a minute,” I objected. “This isn’t what my podcast is about at all. It’s a varied selection of pithy, 15-second comments on a variety of topics.”
“You mean they’re soundbites?” she asked.
“YES!” I exclaimed. “Exactly! Soundbites!”
“Oh,” she said. “We can’t help you with that. But keep on doing what you’re doing, and if we can be any help in the future, please let us know.”
“I will,” I replied, and we hung amicably up.
Evidently, my reach exceeded my grasp. And all that.
My Mind to Your Mind, Your Cache to My Cache
IF YOU DIG observational whimsy parceled into 15-second packets (more or less), I’d take it as a kindness if you dialed into my podcast: Short Attention Span Wisdoms, also available on a dozen of your favorite podcasting platforms including Spotify, iHeart Radio, Deezer, and Amazon Music/Audible. Enlightenment optional; grokking guaranteed.
The Cook For Any Price: Now With Art!
JUST A QUICK NOTE to announce that, thanks to the talents of locally famous Sonoma artist and musician Jon Shannon Williams, my e-books now have handsome new covers – which (I strongly believe) are reminiscent of The Brothers Hildebrandt (Google same if you weren’t a Lord of the Rings fan in the 1970s). Please check him/them out and bask in the glow!
Arms Call
“Don’t spectate: CREATE!”
–Barbatus the Elder
Sober Assessment
TWO-AND-A-HALF MONTHS AGO, I completed my tenth year of clear-eyed, clean-headed and grateful sobriety.
Now, when some people hear that, they might think, “Great, here comes the self-righteous lecture on the evils of intoxication.” But that won’t happen, at least not from me. I don’t and won’t disdain anyone else’s recreational or coping choices; frankly, they are none of my business, and refraining from inebriation is not a crusade that I feel either comfortable or qualified to pursue toward others.
Instead, I want to speak about the rarefied and addictive intoxicant that actually “saved” me, keeping me sane and healthy not just during the past decade but all of my life – and if you know me as well as you think you do, you can already guess what that is.
WRITING.
Not for nothing did Stephen King say of this 6,000-year-old-plus art: “Do it for the buzz.” There is an ineffable thrill in watching the words spill out onto paper or screen, an actual physical and mental rush only gotten from congealing thought into alphabetic form, that’s as hard to beat as it is to describe.
And the best part is, it’s free. Easily accessible. Shareable. No more watching my money go up in a cloud of marijuana smoke; no more furtively prowling dodgy neighborhoods; no more keeping it all to myself lest I run out.
Did I mention addictive? Once you start writing, you’re hooked for life. I sometimes find myself typing and typing until I fall asleep at the keyboard, literally unable to stop ’til I drop. (True story.) E.g., tonight: I meant to take advantage of the finally clear Sonoma skies and do a bit of long-delayed stargazing. But as I write this, it’s well after 10:30pm (or, if you prefer, 2230 hours) PDT and I’m already getting sleepy.
So before I trundle off to Dreamsville, I’ll leave you this hard-earned advice: Try not to let the Great American Novel (or Essay, or Blogpost) keep you from tending your other bodily needs. Otherwise, you may find yourself face down in a pool of your own ink – or even with “QWERTYUIOP” reverse-imprinted deeply into your throbbing forehead. Nighty night.
Ageless Speech
SPEAKING OF H.P. LOVECRAFT, as I was in the prior post, it’s easy to dismiss him for what some have called his “overly purple prose.” He can, I admit, become extremely flowery at times, but as mentioned here and elsewhere, the man was a true poet at heart: his writing is evocative, and justly so – its literary power is derived from the consent of the reader to simply and happily wallow in it. By way of illustration, I offer the following sonnet from a collection of same on weird topics titled Fungi from Yuggoth. It speaks to me, and deeply; I hope it does the same for you.
XXXVI. Continuity
There is in certain ancient things a trace
Of some dim essence—more than form or weight;
A tenuous aether, indeterminate,
Yet linked with all the laws of time and space.
A faint, veiled sign of continuities
That outward eyes can never quite descry;
Of locked dimensions harbouring years gone by,
And out of reach except for hidden keys.
It moves me most when slanting sunbeams glow
On old farm buildings set against a hill,
And paint with life the shapes which linger still
From centuries less a dream than this we know.
In that strange light I feel I am not far
From the fixt mass whose sides the ages are.
Who Knows?
“Was I tottering on the brink of cosmic horrors beyond man’s power to bear?”
— H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
How To Write
SUCCINCTLY.
Encyclopedic Errant
It is necessary,” answered Don Quixote, “to know everything in the profession I follow.”
— Miguel de Cervantes
Welcome To An AI-Free, 98.6% Text Zone!
You’re busy, so I’ll be quick:
1. If you’re eager to meet Prosatio Silban, the self-defrocked holyman in a fantastic land who ekes out a meager but honest living as a mercenary cook, then allow me to introduce you.
2. I’d take it as a kindness if you dialed into my very brief (as in, “about 15 seconds”) podcast, Short Attention Span Wisdoms. (Enlightenment optional.)
3. Peruse an on-the-blog-since-2001 assortment of rusty recollections, offbeat observations, friendly particularism, tasty recipes, unpretentious poetry, entertaining quotes, recreational science, and wry spirituality, which I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.
4. Would-be subscriber/commenter? Please drop me a line. (I like to meet my modest but world-girdling readership.)
Thank you for your patronage, and be well,