| A little boy with eyes that asked too many questions. The eyes made my teachers uncomfortable as though I could see into their souls and know when they were lying. They didn't realize the huge ears could hear them from quite a distance and yes, they were lying. With ears like those you become a good listener. I heard stories no one was supposed to hear. Secrets revealed unknowingly. We would prefer to think that we create ourselves and become what we choose to be but not with those eyes and those ears. If I looked away they couldn't see the eyes but the ears could still hear. I eventually realized how uncomfortable people were about the eyes. Sunglasses covered my eyes for many years. With the veil of colored glass I could look at people and they did not notice. I read lips. I don't know why or how I just do. I should explain about `The Ghost in the Machine'. In an old cult movie "Brazil" a supervisor writes his password EREIAMJH in talcum powder dust on a counter top which refers to the phrase "Here I am J.H." and then says it reminds him of his deceased friend who is now `the ghost in the machine'. Not an obvious connection, I know it's a bit odd. It's supposed to be funny and not a good way to remember a password at all. Soundclip from the movie "Brazil" There is a more recent Japanese animation that is also a cult classic called "The Ghost in the Machine", probably an indirect reference by someone who had also seen the older movie "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam. In the Japanese version the heroine, a cyborg, literally becomes a part of the Internet. Either of these would make a good explanation but the truth is that my family has seen me at the computer for many years, since the first personal computers were sold. I have mentioned to them that even long after I am gone when they sit at a computer and look into the monitor they will think that I am out there `on the net' and connected in some way. I will become "The Ghost in the Machine". Don't get the wrong impression, I'm not in any hurry to leave just yet. Too many stories that I need to tell and too many grandchildren to tell them to - I can't leave now. I wasn't an `All-A Student', that was my sister Pauline, but I did maintain an A average in art, science, and math. I was the saftey-squad captain, a junior train-leader in the Lutheran Pioneers, and first chair coronet in the elementary and junior high school band. When I was moved into accelerated classes I focused my attention on those classes and quit music and art. I attended wrestling after school for long enough to find that I was indeed good at wrestling and then stopped going. The young man I beat every day in scrimmage went on to be the Michigan State champion in his weight class. While attending college I worked as a `ditch-digger' as I called it - laborer on commercial construction sites building additions and entire auto plants for GM and Fords. My father had begun as a laborer, then journeyman carpenter, carpenter foreman, superintendent, and finally Architect Superintendent. Getting work on commercial construction sites was easy when dad was around. My arms grew so large I have stretch marks on both of them. My father joined Vic Tanny's and began weight training and eventually convinced me to go with him. After all the laboring my body liked the weight training and eventually my arms grew to 17 inches in diameter at the bicep. My forearms were 14 1/4 inches, the size most young men have at the bicep. Through a series of mistakes and attempts to correct them I attended school of one sort or another for a total of 22 years. A part of this was two years of college and another 6 years of tech school. I loved the concept of school if not the application of it. I received a certificate of completion for the tech school courses and my journeyman patternmaker's certificate. After my father died in an auto accident I worked as an instructor for Vic Tanny's for a few months until I realized I couldn't support a family on what they paid. It was fun but I had to move along. I worked as a lathe hand, carbide tool grinder, sheetmetal quality control inspector, patternmaker, moldmaker, shop foreman, and as an instructor for the state of Michigan in the CETA program teaching machine shop to adults. My first computer course had been at the age of 18 learning IBM keypunch and then later during my apprenticeship in patternmaking we reviewed binary math and computer assisted machine languages. My PC programming is totally self-taught. I co-authored bulletin board software and worked as a sig section leader on Compuserve. My binary code to emulate an UART in the computer became the de-facto standard for all BBS software for that machine and I was quoted in several computer magazines and offered the opportunity to submit articles on "... anything you care to write about." I later worked as an independent PC consultant for 8 1/2 years doing programming for an automated PBX system and producing reports from the data it generated. I recently worked at the Michigan Unemployment office helping people create a resume and input that data into the state computer system.
This is to explain my unorthodox style of writing. Not as much a `style' but more of a `method'. I conceptualize the writing in the ways that an artist attempts to visualize the finished painting. What remains is to move the painting from the mind to the canvas. Simple? No, not really. I try to use the language in the way a composer writes sheet music. It's not enough to just play the notes. The tempo and the energy of each note should be as the composer conceived them in his or her mind at the writing. My stories are created in this same fashion. Punctuation is for tempo and pacing. Clarity should be accomplished by the choice of word and phrase. I do not like to force a reader to make assumptions based on the `context'. My words and phrases should communicate the meaning or conceal the meaning in a way that nothing within the context is going to help the reader. Too long sentences that cause a mental gasp for air can simulate the stress that the character in the story is feeling. A series of short staccato sentences hardly more than phrases can demonstrate stress of a different nature. I do not have a problem with intentionally confusing a reader. Confusion is a valid human experience. If the words do not seem to belong where they are or they are difficult to read in that combination it may be that I wanted the reader to experience that degree of frustration. The poem "Jabberwocky" would be an example of intentional mangling of the english language. The story in Jabberwocky could be the prelude to my "Dragon Slayer" story if the boy had failed in his attempt to slay the dragon. My story is an easier read which means I will never be famous for obfuscation. Obfuscation and/or confusion of the reader would seem to have been a popular sport in Britain some years ago: "Ae' the gift e' ge' us to see ourselves as others see us." (Celtic verse which makes spelling a bit difficult in English - the e' is to be pronounced as the "e" in "we") "We' sleek n' timid beaste' raise such fear in our breaste'." (This is the entire poem. An attempt to demonstrate brevity with clarity.) "E' best laid plans o' mice e' men gang aft agle' and le' us nought but grief and pain for promised joy." (Another attempt at brevity and clarity somewhat longer than the first.) My personal favorite is from the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark". "I am already missing you." (as a "good bye" to friends) We generally acknowledge the genius of brevity, seldom the genius of a too long sentence. Each has it's uses. I may use the too long sentence to slow a reader down a bit following a section that is just too easy a read. I know they will be speed reading at this point and what I need to communicate requires that they slow down. To me this is sheet music and I am composing a tune that should play the same for every musician. I have Olde English, the present day King's English, Australian and American English to chose from. Not unlike the composer of music when making the selection of alto, soprano, tenor, or bass saxophone. On the Internet I can add color and sound. A bucket filled with rocks can hold an amount of water. Words with no color or sound are a bucket filled with rocks. I fill the emptiness with color and sound. I don't want these to distract the reader from the text. I want color and sound to add to the story in ways difficult or impossible when text is the only tool available. The music video is an attempt to give focus and similarity of experience to music. I add the fluidity of color and music to blur the edges a bit and give the imagination a boost. To experience this for yourselves. Read one or more of the stories with the color turned down, stop the animation in your browser, and turn off the sound. Wait a few minutes then return the color, animation, and sound then read the same text. If I have accomplished my goal you will have two dissimilar experiences as though the story had rewritten itself between the two readings.
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They called them `taxicab ears'. You would think other kids would notice them, they didn't. Only adults noticed the huge ears and the eyes. They didn't like the eyes. A brown so dark they seemed black. Adults would refer to my black eyes as "Gypsy Eyes". 