TV Notes -- Thanks for Leaving out the Kissing

For me, nothing gets that TV shark a jumpin' quicker than a drama adding romance after the main narrative has been established. I'm not talking about sexual tension or stories where a romantic relationship is not part of the story. I am inconsolably miffed when a storyline that has never needed or much hinted at romance crosses that line where suddenly something akin to love sparks into a flame that, sadly, does not engulf characters, writers and producers who thought the "relationship" was a good idea. For me, even classic shows like ER and Moonlighting were never the same after the stories became hinged on how events would affect goofy, tossed-together relationships.
 
Why do these sudden blossoms of love and pollen bother me? First of all, romance radically changes the dynamic which drew me to the program in the first place. I'm not against love stories, but most often these plot devices are intended to "spice up" a show that doesn't need it. If the show needs something to make in more interesting, I say try writing a better show.

Second, it almost always produces something artificial, like teen drama. Watch most shows aimed at teens on Nickelodeon or ABC Family, and you have many characters whose "problems" are not real crises. When mainstream dramas add these liaisons, they also include the same sort of fake issues that make me a little nuts when my kids are watching the shows. It isn't sweet or cute. It is annoying.
 
As bright and interesting characters are relegated to gooey-eyed simpletons, their dialogue turns downright stupid. Even romantics should be tired of the cliches that get thrust into their speech. Several expensive minutes of air time is choked with uncomfortable filler that does nothing to help the story along.

 
This is why I want to tip my hat to the writers of "All's Well That Ends," the season finale of USA's In Plain Sight. The well paced and clever show about marshals working for the Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC) could easily have ended with Mary Shannon and her partner "finally" hooking up after years of working together and becoming best friends. Instead, writers gave us a thoroughly satisfying, and much more realistic and interesting conclusion.
 
I feared the romance was coming. After all, Mary and Marshall Mann (her partner) had not only developed a close relationship (made even more significant by Mary's reticence to open up to anyone), but with the return of Mary's long lost father, all the daddy issues were right up there to carry the plot, should that plot be in the hands of lesser writers. And no one knows daddy issues like the wise, intuitive Marshall. 
 
Further, tension was building because of Marshall's impending marriage. As I sat down to watch the final episode, I fully expected Marshall to leave his bride at the alter, profess his undying love for Mary, and well, you know the horrible rest of the story.
 
But no! Marshall tells Mary he loves her. However, it is a love that comes from a deep friendship, the sort of love almost never celebrated in our culture, as he tells her that she has got to stand on her own. "When you call, I will always come," he tells her. But it is clear he wants her to care about him enough to not call, so he is free in the new chapter of his life.
 
In Plain Sight was not a perfect show. It did have its share of formulaic episodes, and sometimes even I got tired of Mary Shannon's misanthropic musings. However, it did a good job of drawing a unique character who has to navigate some of the same work and family problems all of us have and problems many of us cannot quite understand. Even when I didn't "like" Mary, I was always interested in her. We got to see a character grow without wanting to yell at the screen, "For Pete's sake, grow up!"

Meditation XVII -- Arrogance

Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus tells us a great deal about the extent and depth of arrogance to be found in the unrighteous. We are told the rich man, after living in comfort and luxury, went to Hell, while the diseased beggar Lazarus at death to Abraham's side. But this is not, for me, a story about the evils of wealth versus the virtues of suffering.

Our Lord told this story not long after rebuffing the Pharisees, who we are told in Luke's gospel, "were lovers of money." Jesus had said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted before men is an abomination in the sight of God." So it is not money itself or wealth that makes one unrighteous, but placing it above God. That seems worse when one has to defend or explain away the skewing of priorities.

What amazes me about the parable is the rich man's gall in asking Abraham to have Lazarus serve him. He knew the name of the beggar with sores, and he could not, even then, could only think of his as a being below him. Further, when Abraham tells the rich man why his request will not be granted, the rich man again asks Abraham to "send him to my father's house" in order to warn his still living brothers. Again, he sees Lazarus as a servant who can be ordered from his comfort to do the bidding of those of higher status.

The rich man did not go to Hell because he was rich, but because he rejected God. The sign of that rejection is that he would not see anything in the world as less important than him, and even death and the torment of flames did not burn such selfishness and arrogance out of him.

Bookmarks -- Little Girls In Church

Like her prose, Norris' poems are well crafted and moving, devoid of maudlin sentimentality, but plenty of honest feeling. These poems address the sort of real life grace Flannery O'Conner brought to life in her stories and wrote about in her essays. I found myself grinning as I read several of these poems, particularly those with children at the center, as I recognized the innocence and earthy faith one sees in kids. 

Norris makes the the Psalms and liturgical offices come alive, not by merely quoting or referring to them in some esoteric manner, but by imbuing them with connections to the world one must accept grace among. An example of this is in "The Ignominy of the Living":

Then a recording of "My Way" came scratching out

on the electric carillion

"Oh, hell," I said,

and prayed for Frank Sinatra, too.

And the longings of a soul in love with God and also with the earth can be seen in poems like "The Monastery Orchard in Early Spring":

I, too, want to be light enough

for this day: throw off impediments,

push like a tulip

through a muddy smear of snow

I felt blessed when I ran across this volume, and I hope for more such blessings to come. I already felt Kathleen Norris was an important writer before having the chance to read her poems. This book only solidifies that opinion for me.

Meditation XVI -- Punctuation

But he would withdraw to desolate places to pray.

Jesus had healed a man of leprosy, and told him not to tell anyone. However, news of the healing spread so much and so quickly that Our Lord was inundated with people who wanted to listen to him and be healed of their own maladies.

But even during these times of busyness, Christ took time to get away from people and talk with the Father. One might get the impression that doing so was essential for his work. He told us he was here to do God's will; how else was He going to not only know, but live that will without spending time alone with the Father?

Too often I have looked at solitude and prayer as luxuries when I have been overwhelmed by the tasks that "must be done." Foolishly, I forget that prayer is essential for any spiritual person. Otherwise all work, even ministry, is futile. It is, as Saint Paul said, "beating the air."

Lord, nothing is as important as my relationship to You. Let not my work be punctuated by fits of prayer, but may prayer be paramount and my work be punctuation.

Music Notes -- Direction

Eddie Healy's Direction has emerged as one of my favorite recordings thus far this year, and I expect it to stay in my listening rotation for some time. Each crisply produced track was composed and adroitly performed by Healy himself, including duets, trios, and quartets as well as brilliant solo pieces. This is an album of sublime beauty and depth.

I am impressed with how nicely each song fits with others on this project. There is no drop is coherence when moving from a solo guitar work to a quartet. The three tunes composed for video games do not sound out of place among more "classical" pieces, a testament to Healy's compositional prowess and a demonstration that good music is at home anywhere. Yet each song is distinct and unique. Favorites include "Compulsion," "A Life of Consequence," "The Night Is A Rope," and the suite "The Path to Truth."

I don't know if it the titles or the tone of these works, but I find Direction to be quite spiritual. Many of the songs are reflective and/or majestic. There is a communion of sorts here, certainly between listener and the artist, but also between the music and the universe it brightens. Like some of the best instrumental music, these songs sound much like open prayers. This is not to say they are religious. They are better than that. Direction appeals not to our sense of belief or dogma, but to the oft neglected part of our souls, that is most awakened when we encounter beauty. This isn't pleasant music to augment meditation (though many pieces could be used as such), but instead music that causes one to pause, to stop what busies us and gather ourselves in.

You can listen to pieces from Direction and buy the album at ReverbNation

Bookmarks -- Calico Joe

Redemption and family are two themes in John Grisham's novels, and we certainly have both here. One story in Calico Joe involves a bitter, aging pitcher and the rising star whose career is ruined with one beanball. The other involves the same bitter man and his failure as a father. The story moves between first person and third and back in forth in time, between the son and his trip to see his dying father and the events leading up to the awful game. This can be a little confusing, but I got used to it pretty quickly. (I never did get quite used to the verb tense shifts though.)

On certainly does not have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the history of the game, which Grisham clearly knows and loves, or to enjoy reading about these people. The narrator is as interesting a character as the title character, Warren Tracy, and Clarence Rook, though not as dynamic as one might expect. But that is not necessarily a flaw. Sometimes a novel's best message is in what it doesn't say, not it what is beat over our heads.

I fully expect this book to be made into a movie, and when it is, I hope it is handled by a bright and creative director instead of getting turned into a Hallmark presentation. Otherwise much of the real grit of the issues addressed in Calico Joe are likely to be lost, and that would be a shame.

Bookmarks -- Prime Directive

Bryan Dietrich's Prime Directive is a moving elegy is the truest sense. The book length poem is about mourning, not only of a father, but a father's mind, and of a world that crumbles around one during loss. Wrapped with the myth of Star Trek, this book provides a fascinating journey. Dietrich covers, of course, life and death, but also deftly handles the ideas and ideals one wrestles with when one encounters one's own mortality.

My own father and step-father passed away, three months apart, and I recall that as a part of the grief process, I came to one of those startling realizations of the obvious. When a man's father dies, a man "finds out" that he is going to die too. It is one of those things we know, but ignore so long that it is as if we do not know. Dietrich's poem wrestles with this idea, and many others.

For those that might worry that Prime Directive is a poem with the usual dense poetic language and references to a television show readers are not familiar with, be still. One does not have to be a Trekkie or Trekker, or have a doctorate in ancient mythology to understand what is happening. Familiarity with these helped to enrich the experience for me, but I don't believe it is necessary. Dietrich provides a first rate essay at the end of the book, "Star Trek as Myth," which is a terrific companion for the verse. It does give the reader some insight into the poem, but as I said, it stands alone just fine.

Full disclosure: Bryan is a friend of mine from graduate school. But I can easily say that had I never known him and I came across Prime Directive, I would still think of the poem as a modern In Memoriam.

Meditation XV -- Wanting

"and whenever you want, you can do good for them."

Let us set the scene for this verse. While Jesus was having dinner at the house of a leper (one who was expected to be shunned), a women came and gave Our Lord the honor of anointing Him with nard. She, most likely, should not -- based on social convention -- have been touching a man. And the men there scoffed and scolded, claiming that the ointment could have been sold and money given to the poor.

Several times in Christ's earthly ministry, His friends and disciples tried to keep others from him. Always it was with the excuse of something "more important." Once they tried to keep children from being blessed by Him because presumably Jesus was too busy. Here they exploited the poor. Sounds good on the surface. Jesus the VIP. Jesus the defender of the lowly.

But Jesus is not interested in the logic of businessmen-followers. He wasn't Jesus the politician. He answers that we will always have the poor to give to. Whenever we want. Of course, because The Lord has demonstrated His Love and Holy Concern for the poor, we should too. But His words cut deep, because the implication here is that His disciples really did not want to do good to the poor. They had another agenda.

Perhaps worse than ignoring the children of God, be they the poor, sick, or incarcerated, is using those children as an excuse to keep Christ (or what we expect Christ is) to ourselves. For loving God is not a matter of acting in a particular way or avoiding certain things or people. Loving God wholly means also loving good, wanting to do good.

Lord, test and turn my will, that my desire to serve you will be pure, free from selfishness or agenda, except the agenda to love You more. Amen in Christ.

Bookmarks -- The Shallows

As I began to read this book, I have to confess that I use the Internet so much, I was scared to find out how bad it is for me. Not only do I use the Net for as a writer (research, writing, keeping track of submissions, not the mention to submissions themselves), but it is an integral part of my teaching. My students essentially do every assignment online, and I do all my grading online via a course management system. I keep track of my family and friends via the web, including arguments and prayer requests. I even follow my favorite soccer teams by watching them as much online as I do on television.

I mean, I already kind of knew something was amiss, but I was not ready for what I found out in Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains.

This is a fascinating book about the way the Internet has not only revolutionized the way we do things, but the way we think. Carr lays out a strong argument that the brain's plasticity allows it to physically change due to a variety of stimuli, and that what is inherent in the Internet makes those changes rapidly. Where we gain in some processes (and Carr is quite fair about the value of the Internet), we lose in such necessary elements as meditative or deep or critical thinking. The is the type of thinking is as important as the type of quick thinking the Internet encourages, as it needed for creativity and problem solving among other things. The book also exposes the shift in thinking since the first computers were created from a sense that knowledge encompasses many elements to the idea that knowledge is merely a matter of getting data (any data) as quickly as possible.

Carr includes a great deal of history and science to develop his ideas, including details about more than how the first computers were invented and put to use, but the ideas behind those who built and used them. Where controversy might occur, he includes plenty of information from those who are not likely to side with him, so the naysayers have their say. And the book includes a number lighthearted moments, such as the "digression" chapters and Carr's awareness of the ironies inherent in writing a book as this.

I like that Carr does not take an alarmist tone, but I must comment on two chapters that have me thinking I should do some re-thinking about how and how much I use the web. One chapter is "The Church of Google," where Carr present the history of the search engine/company, but also explains the frightening rationale used to make us believe that data and information is the same as knowledge. The other chaper is the one that follows, "Search, Memory," in which Carr persuasively argues against the metaphor that the brain is like a computer, particularly in how it stores information and memories.

The book is a bit difficult to read, but that is because it is filled with research and scholarly inquiry. I think every teacher should read The Shallows, at the very least, because it addresses the very nature of how we learn. Students should read it too, but ironically, many, having grown up in a world where the Internet was always in existence, may find it tough sledding.

Years ago, when I started teaching, and students were nervous about using a word processing program to compose their papers, I remember telling them that within a month they would wonder how they got along with it. I have said this about a number of technological innovations since then. Now, I'm convinced we better find a way to get along without the Internet, at least for longer periods of time, to give our brains the other stimuli, nourishment, or whatever you want to call it to bring us back into the balance we need.

Kudos to Nicholas Carr for his very important, honest, and even response to a growing, if unacknowledged, crisis.

Meditation XIV -- Salted

"For everyone will be salted with fire."

Salt is a preservative. Salt alters the taste of food. Even the salt on our skin can sting an open wound.

In popular culture, we may think of people who are "salty," not so much as seasoned, which they most likely are, but as course, as altogether too earthy. These are people who have been changed, perhaps, not by a single experience, but by a lifetime of experience living in the world.

Salt changes the food it touches irrevocably. Over-salt something, and it might be ruined. You can wash the salt with much water, but it won't ever go back to its original form. So it takes practice and great care for us to salt properly,even to our own taste.

God does take great care with us, but that salt is necessary. Otherwise we are not only bland, but do not last, and are useless.

Lord, help me to accept the fire you salt me with. Change me to your taste, for in such actions you prove I belong to You. Amen.

Meditation XIII -- Leaven

And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Leaven and bread are two different things. Leaven is put in bread to make it rise. It is an agent of change. Bread is what we eat. The disciples were so focused on their bellies, on their immediate needs, that they were unable to comprehend the spiritual needs -- the eternal needs -- Jesus was addressing when he said, "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

How often are we so focused on the temporal, the literal, that we miss the metaphor, the greater teaching? So like Martha running after the work of the kitchen instead of like Mary, setting ourselves to the work of the soul.

We see the immediate need to fix our hunger, and so neglect that our souls are in immediate need as well. It is when we are hungry that the leaven of the Pharisees can take root, and spoil the loaves that are our lives.

Lord, help us to remember you always meet our bodily needs, so that we may focus our minds and hearts on You. Let Your leaven work in us that we may always work in You. Amen.

Meditation XII -- Dead

the guards trembled and became like dead men.

As I read Matthew's narrative about Jesus' resurrection, my mind's eye is usually drawn to the followers of Christ and the effect that rising from the dead would have on them. How easily we can forget the other story.

Maybe we look at the scene with an "of course" sort of attitude. An earthquake happens. A dazzling being appears, moves the heavy stone from the entrance of the tomb, and sits on it, awaiting the women who will come to honor the Lord. Of course the guards would tremble. Of course they would be like dead men.

But then it is easy to forget them. We listen to the angel's proclamation and instructions to the women. Then we see Jesus who comforts the women. Then it is so easy to skip over to what believers call "The Great Commission."

But the guards were not dead, only like dead. They had to report what had happened. They too were witnesses, in some part, to the resurrection! And what happened when they told the chief priests? They were paid off and told to disseminate a false report, one that portrayed the disciples as criminals.

There are your dead men. Having seen the truth, having a miracle before them, they loved their own vision of the universe so much they not only chose to ignore the truth, but to spread the lie. And the lie, death, is what they chose to live with and to make disciples to.

Lord, let me not look at You and turn away. Give me strength and courage, when Your Truth proves my error, to leave those things that are not of You, and even if naked and alone, to run into your loving arms.

Meditation XI -- Betrayal

Judas, who would betray him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?"

One might argue that Judas was no more evil than the other disciples, and that he believed he was doing good in handing Jesus over to the chief priests. Sure, he had pilfered from the treasury of the group, but maybe he had convinced himself that doing good to himself was doing good for the group, and this was good for the Master.

Note that Christ's disciples all asked Jesus the same question: "Is it I, Lord?" All except Judas, who addressed our Savior as "Rabbi." Shall we read into this that Judas had not accepted Jesus as Lord, but as merely a teacher? Was Judas, as one who expected a military conqueror as Messiah, hoping to force Jesus' hand? I do not know, but I'm struck that all the other disciples, even Peter, thought it possible to betray the Lord, though they loved Him.

Remember Judas left the group and sought the chief priests after the incident with the woman who anointed Jesus for burial. Others said the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Did Judas see himself as "the poor"? Did he figure, with Jesus doing so much talking about death and end times, that it was incumbent up on him to steer the course of Jesus' ministry?

It ultimately does not matter what Judas' motives were, except to say that he probably thought he was doing the right thing. What we should note is not just the betrayal itself, but the possibility that Judas deceived himself (or was deceived?) so much that he thought he was doing good in doing evil. And we should tremble at how close to such thinking we may all be.

Jesus, help us to remember to ask "Is it I, Lord?" from time to time, not only that we avoid betraying You, but that we not betray what You are to us. Be Lord and not Teacher only. Whether we are whore, tax collectors, priests, paupers, or princes, let us fix ourselves to Your will and mercy. Amen.

Thoughts on SOPA and PIPA

Much of the following has been cobbled together from a few Facebook posts I have made in the last couple of days. My apologies if you have read it before.

I have not looked long and hard at the legislation proposed in SOPA and PIPA, but I have mixed thoughts on what little I do know. What I have seen is a great deal of hysteria on both sides, which I am learning comes with pretty much all political territory.

Two ideas often go through my head when new laws are considered. Let's stop short of calling these two ideas truths, because there are always exceptions, but I've found nothing to show them as wrong.

Often people who are against whatever bill under consideration (and even after) give a hundred reasons to say it is awful, but I usually find myself responding, But something must be done. That is how I felt about Obama's health care initiative. Not all of it is great, some of it is not good, but those who see no problem with the confluence of health care corporations and a dwindling economy have their heads in the proverbial sand. 

I look at SOPA and PIPA the same way: something must be done to protect not only artists, but everyone who creates something. How do we protect the creative work of a computer programmer or the teacher or the engineer? What is going to make sure the textbook I am writing won't be pirated?

My second general maxim when it comes to law is: It is nearly impossible to go back. We generally do not make rules on a trial basis. Even when we realize ordinances have not helped a community (for example, when a dry town votes itself wet), the community almost never changes it. With laws that effect the whole nation, it takes years, often a generation or more, to change it, if we do so at all. So new rules are like writing something into culture instead of having culture evolve.

A problem in our culture, a friend pointed out to me, is that for so many who have never known anything but a world with an Internet, most things have either been free or seemed to be free. That keeps people from even seeing the harm they may be doing. My addition to this thought is that fewer people are creators. That is, few do anything to create, but only consume. How can they know what it takes to be an artist of any kind? As I have said many times, we must create or we destroy.

As for Wikipedia going dark, I keep wondering why they didn't do so later in the semester when more high school and college students were stealing, I mean, writing research papers. Wouldn't that have gotten more attention? But apparently, did generate a lot of attention, if the news feed in my Facebook is any indication. If Wikipedia really wanted to serve the world, it would go dark and never bring its "light" back. Ever.

TV notes – Cymbalta hurts

When my doctor prescribed Cymbalta for my diabetic neuropathy, I shot him a confused look. I thought he was trying to pull one over one me. But he assured me that Cymbalta was first designed for just my problem: pain in the extremities due to diabetes, and that only later, after it was discovered that patients reported feeling better emotionally did they discover it benefits for those suffering from depression. Thus it had become a drug prescribed for millions of people for the latter use.

So I gave in, trusting that the information was accurate, and I wish I hadn't. While the drug has done a good deal to help my pain, it may do more harm than good.

In my opinion, every prescription of an anti-depressant is a death sentence. It may not literally kill the patient, but eventually many wish they could die. The doctor has doomed the patient with lifelong dependency on the "medicine," even telling the patient most often, "You will take this or some other drug for the rest of your life."

Doctors and pharmaceutical commercials are almost never honest about the side effects of such drugs, particularly what takes place when one stops taking them, which happens for a variety of reasons. If you think a depressed person is difficult to get along with before taking Cymbalta, try dealing with him a couple days after he has quit using it.  And long term effects of taking such drugs have not been studied enough.


A couple years ago, Eli Lilly, the makers of Cymbalta started its "depression hurts" advertising campaign. Not so clearly, it connected the emotional difficulty of depression with physical pain, which is not always accurate. You'll note that these ads are often much longer than other commercials on television. The ads essentially beat the viewer on the head with its message and droning music, telling those with depression, "You're in pain. Your pain is a problem for other people. Cymbalta will fix that." It told those without depression, "If you want your life to get better, make sure your friend/companion/loved one takes this."

Don’t forget that many doctors misunderstand the order of events in people’s lives. Some will prescribe an anti-depressant when a patient is in pain, assuming that the patient’s feelings and attitude might because of pain, not depression.

Now Eli Lilly, instead of being ashamed of such crass manipulation and deception, is advertising this product for anyone with chronic pain. This action is far over the line. Big Pharma has done it's best to make sure all of us believe we have have a problem that can be solved via drugs. Most people use the phrase "my meds" as easily and often as they talk about what they eat for dinner or what they watch on television (the latter a seriously important drug or drug supplement). 

Though Lilly was cited by the FDA for misleading ads in 2010, the company has taken its message beyond those with depression or chronic pain, but continued to tell people that Cymbalta is for pain. Any pain.

Feel bad? Forget Tylenol or Advil, or meditation or taking a nap or anything else that might have worked before. Take Cymbalta. But realize you might killing yourself in the process. Even the fine print is not clear about this.

If corporations really are people, Eli Lilly (and the rest of them) is among those worthy of a special place in Hell. In Dante's Inferno, the Eighth Circle was reserved for those guilty of “theft, fraudulent rhetoric and falsification” (among other sins). Suicides were sent to the Seventh Circle with the violent. Clearly Dante felt that violence to language was even more heinous than violence to others, including the self. Seems an apt place for Big Pharma. The only thing I would add is that the suicides should be able to throw rocks at the executive and drug reps burning below them.

Reading Response – Of Obesity

I am overweight myself, but wasn't as a kid. I have mixed feelings about ads such as those being produced in Georgia and written about in the NPR story “Controversy Swirls Around Harsh Anti-Obesity Ads.” I agree that we have to get people's attention, especially the overweight parents of these kids. On the other hand, I wonder how kids will use these ads as fodder for their abuse.

I also know that PSAs that sugar-coat things don't tend to work, especially on kids. Consider the Truth ads. These have been very successful, in large part because they are honest. (Of course, they are not funded by big tobacco. And you will notice you see fewer of these because the organization lacks the money power of huge corporations.)

However, I wonder why there are not more PSAs aimed at people to encourage them to be more encouraging. Not “positive.” Encouraging.

I have been helped a great deal by the little bits of encouragement throughout the week. Lots of people will tell me very specific, but thoughtful things, and those help me to keep in mind that my diet and exercise are working. What doesn’t help? Advice. Most of it is something I already know. Some of it comes from the perpetually skinny and is over simplistic. What also hurts are those who think they are encouraging by telling me I’m still fat. One relative will hear another talk about my weight loss and say "Really? It looks like you have gained weight" or "I can't tell" or "Well, it's about time you did something."

I have a long way to go, and I know it. I'm fat, and I know it. I didn't get the  weight on quick, and if I want to live a healthy remainder of my life, I can't get it off fast. I just also know that there is, at least for me, an emotional attachment to food as well as to sitting still. And having people honest and thoughtful has made a huge difference in how I handle the really difficult parts of the weight loss journey.

And while we are at it, why not some PSAs aimed not just at the parents who raise fat kids, but at the executives of fast food industries and the government autocrats who protect them. These are people who on one hand block every attempt at health care reform and on the other block attempts to make food healthier and safer. These are people who seem all about the money, but ignore the economic realities of the products, policies, and practices. But such efforts would not likely work. Most PSAs appeal to the heart, and these people don't have any.

Bookmarks – The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

Pieces like "A Hunger Artist," "In the Penal Colony," and the title story are absolutely brilliant and rich in themes. I also liked "The Stoker," though I am not sure why. But some of the other stories were incomprehensible to me. I must admit, however, that I read most of this book at night, often when I was very tired.
The Introduction was rather useful. The translator's Afterword was not.
I believe the material is, as a whole, worth reading, but I wonder about some of the tales, which Kafka himself seemed to think were "unfinished."
For a personal take on the title story, click here.