After the Authors

I had a dream last night that I was a character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.  Those who've read know it's partially a story about the relationship between an author and his characters.  My dream placed me at the end of the book, where I had to say goodbye to King as he left the world of the books and returned to Maine.  I knew that, despite any attempts I might make, my narrative was complete, and my story was done.

At some point, the authors of your life will leave you behind.  Or you will leave them behind.  Some difference, no difference.  It could be a girlfriend or an organization or a practice or anything.  She will stop taking your calls or they will inform you that you services are no longer needed or you will no longer be able to do the asana.  It is inevitable.  Entropy comes for everyone.

And when you wake up from the nightmare, you realize that you have no author, or that everything is your author.  Some difference, no difference.  The story keeps going, and what you think is an ending is just a really sad part of the book.

Or a really happy one.  Maybe if enough of your authors disappear, you can stop living narratives and start living reality.

What Racism Looks Like in 2013

You ask what factors predict a person's likelihood of becoming a serial killer.

You run this photo.

And yet the words "white" or "Caucasian" appear nowhere in your article, and the first mention of gender is buried in the second half of the article.

I mean...

My Generation

Courtesy of Josh Landau: the 2011 Class of Georgetown Law, which is a Top 14 law school, has an 8.2 percent unemployment rate.  That's actually pretty good compared to how other people in other sectors are doing, but ...

8.2 percent of really smart, really obedient kids got really good GPAs in high school and college.

8.2 percent of kids did everything right, got into one of the elite institutions in America, survived the rigors and bullshit of graduate school.

8.2 percent of the most system system kids were told that their services were not needed.

And these are the ones that played by the rules.

If you're not mad, you're not paying attention.