Suggested music: Golden Hours by Brian Eno
Hello. I’ve resisted having a blog for a long time, but I’m going to follow the herd for once and give it a shot. I’m doing a lot of unusual things these days, and I have the urge to share them.
Some explanations:
I chose this song because I’m a huge Brian Eno fan and because the lyrics are an insight into my current state of mind. The title is intriguing too.. the Golden Hour refers to the hour at dusk and dawn where the low sun casts a beautiful light for photography. It also refers to the hour after a traumatic injury that care is most effective. Which did Eno mean? Perhaps neither.. he chose lyrics mostly for the sounds they made. Still, its amazing what he came up with.
The picture was taken in December at Rhyolite ghost town near Beatty, NV. The figure is part of a sculpture project called “The Last Supper.’ More information on that can be found here.
As for the title of the blog, The Mysterious Stranger was one of Mark Twain’s last books, and was published posthumously in several different versions. There is some debate over which he intended. I’ve loved this story since I first read it at St. John’s Prep at the age of 14. I took the moral of the story to heart, perhaps a bit too much. You can read one version here.
The tagline is a quote from the story. This was a pet project for Twain, and one that really expressed his personal view on life. In writing to his good friend Wiliam Dean Howells, Twain said:
What I have been wanting is a chance to write a book without reserves - a book which should take account of no one’s feelings, and no one’s prejudices, opinions, beliefs, hopes, illusions, delusions; a book which should say my say, right out of my heart, in the plainest language and without a limitation of any sort. I judged that that would be an unimaginable luxury, heaven on earth.
It is under way, now, and it is a luxury! an intellectual drunk. Twice I didn’t start it right; and got pretty far in, both times, before I found it out. But I am sure it is started right this time. It is in tale-form. I believe I can make it tell what I think of Man, and how he is constructed, and what a shabby poor ridiculous thing he is, and how mistaken he is in his estimate of his character and powers and qualities and his place among the animals.
I will attempt to be as forthright as Twain was when he wrote The Mysterious Stranger 100 years ago. I have a great many personal relationships that I cannot compromise, but I do promise to be as truthful and honest as possible.
Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment if you’d like.