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No one says it like the Daily Show. This must not be missed. A perfect example of hypocrisy.

Cover designed by Eric Martin ...

I love the cover Eric designed. Now I'm really jazzed about it finally being published.

So here's what Winston Churchill had to say about writing a book:

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.”

I think I'm still at the state where it's a tyrant ... I'm longing to fling the monster out to the public. Soon.

On writing ...

When I started writing my book I thought it would come together quickly and easily. After all, I had lived it, all I had to do was write it down. But as it turned out, transferring a picture in your mind and all the feelings that go with it into words is not easy at all. It's not just the moment, it's everything around that moment that makes the moment memorable.

That's why I put the Cesare Pavese quotation at the beginning: "We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten."

I found this image on the internet and it seemed to capture the way the door opened to my past as I was writing. As I wrote I was sometimes surprised at how wrong I was about when some things had happened. I had associated memories with events, but when I researched the events, what I was remembering hadn't happened then, it had happened at another time. While checking the dates I would come across other events that I had forgotten were happening at that time. They were part of the memory and I needed to put them in to create the context for who I was and what I was doing.

I was lucky to be writing about a time that I really enjoyed and that meant a lot to me. Going back through the years and years of memories was mostly fun, although the frustration and the sadness I experienced then was often difficult to revisit. Even after all these years, I cry when I see news footage of JFK being shot and of demonstrations where billy clubs are crashing on people's heads. And when I think of my sister. We would have had so much fun sharing these memories.

hypocrisy and hypocrites

Hypocrisy: The act or practice of feigning to be what one is not or feel what one does not. Republicans say they are against deficits and that's why they voted against unemployment benefits (although it's paid for by insurance) and health care (although it will lower costs).

Hypocrite: A false pretender to virtue. However, Republicans created huge deficits during the Bush administration to fund tax cuts for the rich and two unfunded wars.

What surprises me even more are the people who believe whatever Republicans say no matter how hypocritical it is.

What a woild. What a woild.

grampa's farm

how you gonna keep 'em down on the farm?

Took a trip to grampa's farm. It's three miles out of Manning, Iowa. Lots of memories from when Teri and I were young are still in the wind and everywhere there, even though the farm buildings are gone. Seeing old friends who loved her was good for the soul. We all miss her so.