End-of-the-School-Year Reflections: Returning to Normal

About fourteen months ago The Before Times ended, ushering in The Age of The Virus.  On 16 March 2021, my little school transitioned to distance learning, and like other schools in South Carolina, we finished the year online.

We began this school year with a mix of online and in-person students, with most students attending in-person.  We had a plethora of new policies to enforce, such as one-way traffic in hallways (that quickly collapsed), mask-wearing, and social distancing.  Of those three, mask-wearing was pretty much the only one that really stuck the entire year, until Governor McMaster blessedly issued his executive order last week allowing students to opt-out of wearing masks.

With Awards Day today and graduation just eight days away (next week is Exam Week, so it will be a much lighter week than most for yours portly), it seemed appropriate to review this highly unusual school year, and to reflect upon how it went, and what the long-term implications of it will be.

Read More »

TBT: Big Deal

The big news in media a year ago was that Joe Rogan had signed an exclusive deal with Spotify, purported to be worth around $100 million.  At the time, it seemed that Rogan and/or Spotify was/were purging from the platform the edgiest of Rogan’s guests, the interesting dissidents like Gavin McInnes.

As I wrote last year, “Imagine, though, what [Rogan] could have done for free speech and liberty if he’d fought against the SJWs and taken the McInnes route [of starting his own platform].”

Well, it seems that Rogan is beginning to realize the price of doing business with the wokesters.  In a recent interview, Rogan bemoaned the death of comedy films, as now any bit of humor can be construed as a form of privilege, or of otherwise marginalizing some allegedly oppressed and, therefore, humorless minority.  Rogan even went so far as to claim that “it will eventually get to straight white men are not allowed to talk.”

Rogan seems to be waking up to reality, albeit belatedly.  Let’s see if he puts his money where his mouth is and pushes back against the social justice tyranny, or continues to rest on his lucrative laurels.

Here is 20 May 2020’s “Big Deal“:

Read More »

Improving Christian Fiction

I stumbled upon the psychotherapist and author Adam Lane Smith when Mogadishu Matt wrote a “Sunny Side Up” book review of Smith’s action-comedy novel Maxwell Cain: Burrito Avenger (readers will forgive me for noting that my own book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot was featured in the inaugural “Sunny Side Up” review).  I have yet to purchase any of Smith’s works yet, though I intend to pick up copies of Maxwell Cain and books from his Deus Vult Wastelanders series.

I have, however, signed up for Smith’s e-mail list—the least any potential supporter can do—and have enjoyed his e-mail blasts.  One recent message caught my eye:  a blog post entitled “Time to Fix a Problem.”

Read More »

Comic Review: Dracula: Vlad the Impaler (2021)

This past weekend I went to Athens, Georgia, with my girlfriend to see the sights.  We spent a good bit of time in downtown Athens, near the University of Georgia campus, which was overrun with graduates and their families in town for a weekend of graduation ceremonies.  Amid our sightseeing, we stumbled upon Bizarro-Wuxtrey, a comic book and record store that truly lives up to its name.

The first floor of the shop is Wuxtrey Records, a record shop that, due to Virus-related capacity restrictions, we were not able to browse.  The second floor is—like Bizarro Superman—the comic book section.  It was the classic comic book store, complete with an overweight, older gentleman with long hair and a beard manning the shabby little counter.  The store features several rooms of comics and old magazines, including back issues of old niche magazines dedicated to sci-fi flicks and movie monsters.

Amid the stacks of new arrivals I found the subject of this post:  the black-and-white reissue of the 1990s graphic novel Dracula: Vlad the Impaler.

Read More »

Monday Morning Movie Review: Robot & Frank (2012)

Apologies to readers for the slightly delayed post today.  I returned late Sunday evening from a weekend trip, so I’m playing catch-up a bit this morning.

Robots:  do we fear their ultimate takeover of humanity, or are they amusing, neurotic pals, like C-3PO?  I remember receiving a LEGO R2-D2 with a programmable drivetrain early in high school, and in my doughy innocence, I imagined myself walking around with a three-foot droid serving drinks and quipping in 8-bit beeps and blips.  Instead, it was a twelve-inch-high kit that could turn in circles and emit a few beeps on a pre-programmed path (there was a way to program him to do more, but I lacked the intelligence and/or technological capability to do so).

That’s all to say that I find the idea of robot buddies fascinating.  One of my spoiled complaints about the modern world is that, while technology has certainly grown more useful—WiFi, for example, and thermostats that can be set remotely—it hasn’t gotten much cooler.  The optimistic sci-fi worlds of the 1950s and early 1960s, with helpful droids and interplanetary exploration, have been replaced with the dystopian sci-fi worlds of the 1970s.  The modern world feels less like Star Trek or Star Wars and more like Logan’s Run.

Needless to say, I was immediately drawn to the premise of Robot & Frank, a 2012 film that takes place in “the near future,” when friendly robot helpers are expensive but available, and smartphones have just become brighter and more transparent.  It’s a comedy-drama, but heavier on the comedy side, albeit understated.

Read More »

Lazy Sunday CXIII: Short Stories

I can’t get enough of short stories lately, it seems.  Perhaps it’s because I recently published a collection of my absurdist detective stories, but I’ve been on even more of a short stories kick than usual recently.

Indeed, I’m hoping to write some original short stories this summer (and hopefully some new songs, too).  I’m not sure if it’s feasible, but I’d like to have a collection of new original stories out by the time school resumes.  We shall see.

In the meantime, here are some posts about short stories I have read recently enjoyed (for even more, check out “Lazy Sunday LVIII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap” and “Lazy Sunday CVIII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2021 Recap“):

Happy Sunday—and Happy Reading!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Tip The Portly Politico:  Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

***NOTEThis link is NOT a subscription to my SubscribeStar Page; it is for a one-time donation/tip via PayPal. To subscribe to my SubscribeStar page, use this URL:   https://subscribestar.com/the-portly-politico***

SubscribeStar Saturday: An Appeal to Subscribers

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

As my SubscribeStar page closes in on 200 posts, I wanted to take make an appeal to my loyal subscribers.  You are my biggest supporters, as each month you send me a share of your hard-earned money in order to read my self-indulgent posts.  Many of you have also purchased my first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard, a further show of your support, and have picked up my music on Bandcamp.  I deeply and sincerely appreciate your support.

I’m not asking you to send me more money (although you are, of course, welcome to do so should the mood strike).  Rather, I’m hoping to enlist your support in reaching out to potential new subscribers.

Recent events have convinced me more and more that the modern world is no place for a man like me, and I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with and disillusioned by the dehumanizing, exploitative nature of the modern workplace.  Perhaps I’m being a bit melodramatic, but I’m returning to a point I thought I had escaped over the last year.  The thousand little indignities, briefly delayed during The Age of The Virus, seem to have returned with a vengeance, and I am weary.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Learning by Doing: Teaching Guitar

One of the truest statements I’ve ever heard is “if you want to learn something, teach it.”  Much of my teaching career has been built upon that premise, and it’s stretched my mind and talents far beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving.

A young education major at the local liberal arts college once told me that it’s unethical to learn on the job when teaching.  As I recall, I laughed in his face, and said, “Kid, the only way to learn how to teach is by learning on the job.”  No one knows everything, especially educators (why do you think we became teachers?).

That’s certainly been the case with teaching guitar.  I’d always struggled to wrap my mind (and hands) around string instruments, and while I picked up bass (one note at a time is much easier than six), I assumed I’d never be able to play guitar.  Indeed, I’m still not very good at playing guitar, and would not consider myself a “guitar player.”

What I discovered is that as I taught guitar lessons—often fumblingly so initially—I was learning to play guitar.

Read More »

TBT: Nintendo Labo Piano

My Spring Jam is approaching very quickly, and I’m dedicating more time to preparing for it.  I’ve dusted off the piano and have been putting in some practice time to make sure I’m sharp.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to look back to a post from last May, in which I detailed the construction of the Nintendo Labo Piano.  It was a fun but lengthy project, and I’m not even sure if my niece and nephews have played it since then, but it’s really cool seeing the imagination Nintendo is putting into their products.  Nintendo is to video games what LEGO is to toys.  If you get that analogy, then you understand.

Here is 19 May 2020’s “Nintendo Labo Piano“:

Read More »

Midweek Short Story Recommendation: “The Visit That Wasn’t”

Good old Terror House Magazine continues to publish some of the best short fiction being written today (including my own absurdist writing), and it’s my pleasure to recommend another story by one of their contributors, Adrian David‘s “The Visit That Wasn’t.”

The story is a short parable riffing on the saying “the grass is always greener on the other side.”  Visitors to the protagonist’s land keep telling him how terrible and crummy the place is, and instead brag about the greatness of their home.

The glowing talk of the visitors’ homeland churns away in the mind of the protagonist, until he finally decides to pay a visit.  What he finds depresses and angers him:  nuclear war, corruption, violence, declining birth rates, normalization of pedophilia, famine, depravity, etc.

Feeling cheated, the protagonist returns to his own home, and realizes how much he took it and its charms for granted—but there’s a twist (I recommend reading the story, which takes about three minutes, for the full impact; twist revealed below).

Read More »