Jackson Allen's Blog, page 22

Query Letter Blues

Four drafts of negative feedback later – I’m arriving at the overwhelming conclusion that I have the Query Letter Blues. What are the QLBs? Why does it matter? Let’s take a moment on this Tuesday to discuss an underknown aspect of the writing profession and also why it isn’t that big of a deal if you suck.

But Why Query Letters?

Query letters – the messages you send out to lit agents requesting they review and consider your work for representation/publication – are an art form unto themselves. Just as Tinder users spend hours crafting their profile, or actors spend thousands on headshots, authors grind on Reddit to fine-tune their query into the perfect message. Why do we do it? Simple – we’re trying to get noticed. We’re trying to stand out. We’re trying for their attention. Your query letter – like your love life – is only as good as the response it gets.

Writers agonize over these little morsels of creativity. Your work is brilliant, they said. All you need is the right pitch, they said. Hopeful hearts and keen keyboards get to work – you know your work, you believe in your story – the perfect query letter is only seconds away!

*Bwaaahhhh* – just like on Family Feud. Not only is your first query letter draft *NOT* perfect, it’s so imperfect that other writers will wonder if your entire project sucks. Try again. Again. AGAIN! Multiple drafts and multiple rounds of ‘this is worse than the last one’ feedback. You’ll experience that existential angst that only comes when a creative person gets a virtual kick in the teeth. You’re wounded, you’re chastened – now get back out there, sport, and try again! Need some help managing those emotions? Try the Creative Persons’ Survival Guide.

Not complaining – just explaining. Writing query letters is hard. You’re going to suck at it. In fact, that’s perfectly normal and healthy – being terrible at writing a query letter. Let’s now discuss …

Why It’s Okay to Suck At Query Letters

Having asked for help with my query letter by reaching out to pro authors with multiple decades / successful titles and projects to their name – I have come to one unmistakable conclusion. EVERYONE SUCKS AT WRITING THEIR OWN QUERY LETTER. Seriously. The names have been withheld, but the feedback is real: ‘I’m not going to be of any use with a query letter … The only useful method is honesty — new writer, here’s what I’ve written, here’s what writers I might resemble, here’s where I want to go.’

Another author says: ‘When I tried a decade earlier, I sucked at it.’ Another: ‘Wish I could help. I’ve never written a query letter to agents in my life. Still don’t have an agent. Ah well!’ and a fourth: ‘[F]rankly I suck at query letters.’

I won’t discuss these authors’ pedigree – you know them – simply be assured that query letters are hard to write, even for professional authors. No one seems to have it easy, and if it’s easy for you – I’m kinda curious what your own success path looks like.

Lean Into Those Query Letter Blues

You can’t have war stories without war. Seneca said ‘Difficulties strengthen the mind.’ You’ll get through this moment, as you got through all the other ones: by putting one foot in front of the other. Lean into those Query Letter Blues, learn to enjoy the song and hum along with the music. If it’s hard, then you’re probably doing something right. It’s hard for all the successful authors.

Sci-Friday #194 – Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Bloopers and Outtakes

Let’s decompress from a busy week by enjoying bloopers and from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Come for the Leonard Nimoy, stay for the Nichelle Nichols. Watch and enjoy!



According to Wikipedia – Nimoy and Bennett selected a time travel story in which the Enterprise crew encounters a problem that could only be fixed by something only available in the present day (the Star Trek characters’ past).  Paramount was dissatisfied with the script, so its head of production Dawn Steel asked Nicholas Meyer, the writer and director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, to help rewrite it.  Nimoy said Meyer gave the script “the kind of humor and social comment, gadfly attitude I very much wanted”.[5] He added that his vision was for “no dying, no fighting, no shooting, no photon torpedoes, no phaser blasts, no stereotypical bad guy. I wanted people to really have a great time watching this film [and] if somewhere in the mix we lobbed a couple of big ideas at them, well, then that would be even better.”

Star Trek IV remains one of the most heartfelt movies in the franchise – if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out! If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 

New Audiobook – The Battle of Victoria Crater

Woohoo – come enjoy this new audiobook: The Battle of Victoria Crater. It’s now available on YouTube and publishing on all your favorite audiobook platforms in the next few days! I create full audio experiences for my short stories with the help of Jeremiah Jones – an up and coming voice actor. Here’s what it’s all about:

In the desolate Martian frontier of Victoriaville, a brave community of settlers faces relentless threats from mercenary bandits working for a powerful Earth corporation, WTO. Led by Captain Junior and an enigmatic gunfighter named Pete, the settlers must defend their hard-won home against repeated attacks. Victoriaville’s resilience and determination shine through as they thwart the mercenaries and maintain their claim on the Martian land. But as tensions escalate, the settlers wonder if peace is possible, knowing that their struggle to secure their future on Mars is far from over.

Buckle up and strap in – this crazy ride isn’t over until we’ve blown some stuff up and outsmarted some bad guys. Click the link below – the battle for a free Mars starts HERE:

I have to congratulate Jeremiah Jones on this one – he really stretched on this project, creating a half-dozen separate accents to bring the characters to life. I’m in awe of your abilities bruv – well done, sir!

When it comes to Mars, we’ve only scratched the surface of what the future will be like. New frontiers provide a backdrop of power, courage, and human discovery – that’s why Space Westerns are so popular. Parts Two and Three are coming soon – make sure you tell your friends, there’s a new sheriff in town and he’s taking no prisoners.

 

Notes from Eugene – 09/06/2023

Today’s ‘Notes from Eugene’ is entitled: Ode to a dandelion on Mill Street. Here was a moment, and nothing else. You grew out of a crack in the sidewalk. Soft yellow petals, hardy jagged leaves. Glowing from a shaft of light in the clouds, a tiny traffic sign telling us to watch out – life is here. That was the beginning of the story, but then there was more.

A small child was digging you out of the crack. The mission, putting you in a rinsed-out mayonnaise jar half-filled with dirt. Both of you struggling to survive and thrive in a place where you had no business doing either. Somehow both of you to be a source of otherwise non-existent joy.

I saw you both, unlikely friends and improbable partners. But the child saw you, and you saw the child. You would grow together, putting down roots and teaching each other the value of resilience and resolve. There is the child, fifteen years from now, a bright shining star. Stories of persistence and patience from a flower no one else cared to see.

Crash. The future was over before it started. Mom grabbed the jar from reaching fingers – no room in her life for a useless flower in a useless jar. The child’s dreams dunked into the garbage can with unerring accuracy. Tears shattered by poverty-sharpened rage. Why are you crying? What do you care, it’s just a stupid flower. Boys don’t grow flowers. C’mon – we’re going to be late. Love, joy, curiosity crushed out of existence as quickly as they began.

Part of me wonders if the boy will remember the source of his rage and cruelty when he’s old enough to inflict some of his own. I wonder if mom will remember how exactly their damaged relationship came to be damaged. The unmistakable cost of discarding emotions like forgotten stuffed animals. I can’t stop the future, but I can tell you how we go there.

 

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

I know that I said Reddit’s on its way out – but today I ran into something on Reddit that reminded me of an important truth: It’s okay to not be okay. “What’s a subtle sign that someone isn’t ok deep down?” was created yesterday and I related to so many of these signs that it’s positively scary. Actually, I was surprised that ‘You suddenly get all of Taylor Tomlinson’s jokes’ wasn’t one of them, but that’s a different story for a different time.

What are some signs that somebody isn’t okay? Let’s break them down in no particular order. This list may be of service to you, which is why I’m including it here.

When someone starts reaching out to people they haven’t spoken to for a long time. – ASemiAquaticBirdUnexplained or unwarranted anger, you drop a tiny rock in the ocean and you get a tsunami reaction – usually a sign of deep distress. – ZillianGatorWhen they have lost their fight and just tolerate things that are wrong because they have given up. – istareatscreensWhen they get emotional over simple kindness. – warpugsLooks tired, forced smile, flinches subtle and doesn’t seem happy when you talk of things you know they love – Caladan109Always check on the ones who check on you. They’re probably the ones who understand most what it’s like to be forgotten and are following the Golden Rule. – Emis816Poor hygiene. Nobody likes being unhygienic. Most people are depressed at their smelliest. – happyhippie95If someone quietly, calmly and emotionlessly tells you that you need to stop, leave, etc — like they are dead inside — there is a good chance they are about to snap – RecognitionLucky6697

When they actively avoid seeing themselves. Either in a mirror, a reflection of some kind, pictures, etc. – RynoLasVegasWhen they don’t ask for favors or help. Ever. – Lack of trust. No trust falls, no matter the person. – They don’t like it when people get them something, or they don’t like being the center of attention. – Their heart may be racing, but their face stays calm. – When they’re not disappointed when something bad happens. They accept it and keep moving. – equivalent_answer561Anger is symptom of deep depression. It’s what some depressed people use to get out of bed in the morning, since it creates energy. Ask me how I know. – PudacatA smile that doesn’t make it to their eyes. From the nose down, looks happy. From the nose up, it’s like looking at a doll. – Radiant_Boss4342Although it’s obviously not always the only indicator, but people pleasers often have a default to put themselves second. These are the people I worry about – crannnnnnnyThey overshare traumatic events like it’s not a big deal – hotre_editorOver explaining themselves for no reason = trauma response – HealthyVegan12331

Okay, stop – take a breath. This blog post may come as a surprise or an uncomfortable realization – for that, I apologize in advance. Especially to my younger readers. Everyone can get overwhelmed, sad, anxious, or discouraged.  Sometimes life – even for adults – is hard and scary. Just like it’s hard and scary to be a kid, sometimes. I’m writing all of this down for you as well as for me.

I’m writing this all down because it’s okay to feel bad. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, sad, anxious, or discouraged. If you found yourself relating to this list extra hard, please take a moment to listen. I’m sorry for your struggle and I empathize with your paint. My hope is that you get some better days, times, feelings soon. As a friendly reminder, the US mental health hotline number is 866-903-3787, or you can call 988 from any phone in the United States. There’s a worldwide list of mental health resources on this page here.

If it helps, think of the last time you smelled a fart. Gross, right? The good news is, farts go away. Open a window, take a walk, take some simple steps to get away from the funk. Even if you can’t get away from a fart – you know they don’t last. Life would suck if farts stuck with you forever, but they don’t. Neither do bad feelings – think of them as ’emotional farts.’ Everyone farts – and farts don’t last forever.

Here’s the Thing

Sometimes the hard and scary stuff doesn’t go away and you have to find different reasons to not give up. For example, your reason to not give up can be something beautiful – a warm sunny day, cute animals, beautiful stars at night. Other times, your reason to not give up can be mean and ugly. You can literally decide to keep going just because it annoys people. Let me let you in on a little secret: both reasons are perfectly fine. It’s totally fine to keep going, not give up on life and yourself, because you’re too angry to give up. Anger is a survival mechanism – feel free to make use of it.

Why am I talking about this? Why not keep all this with the therapist? I’ve thought a lot about the value of keeping silent versus talking about it and basically – the answer comes down to this. If you wanna get better at anything – you have to practice. Wanna play guitar? Practice. Get better at juggling? Practice. Writing stories? Practice. Even doctors practice medicine – they have to practice to get better. How are we supposed to get better at mental health if I we don’t practice getting better?

I was in a pretty bad place this morning and with some mediation (and this blog post) – I’m doing better. Thank you for listening, and I hope this post helps you as much as it has helped me. It’s okay to not be okay. Think of your bad days as ’emotional farts.’ We still love you, even if you fart. Everyone farts – and farts don’t last forever.

 

“Is Hollywood self-destructing?” No.

Fun article in the BBC today documenting Hollywood’s strike issues, asking “Is Hollywood self-destructing?” The short answer is no, but let’s take a moment to talk about why. Understanding what Hollywood is, and isn’t, is crucial for anyone who wants to be a professional storyteller.

To recap – Hollywood’s writers have been on strike since May 2 (AKA the WGA strike). A separate, parallel strike is happening with the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). It’s been 60 years since we’ve seen two strikes (the WGA and SAG-AFTRA) happening at the same time.

The sting is in the tail of the BBC article: “Even if the strikes resolve in time to allow Hollywood to resume normal service for the Oscars et al, the damage that will have done in the meantime could still be seismic – and the ramification for the studios could extend far beyond Dune: Part Two’s rescheduled premiere.” People are understandably surprised and alarmed if they’ve never seen a labor action before – does this mean the end of Hollywood as we know it?

I’m not here to discuss why the strike is happening and what the terms are. You can learn more about that on Wikipedia and the newspaper and there are paid analysts who understand the situation MUCH better than I do. The point I want to address is the original title of the post – ‘Is Hollywood self-destructing?’ The answer, again, is no – here’s why.

The Simple Truth About Hollywood

Forget the glitz and glamor of Hollywood – they’re an industry town and Hollywood’s industry is entertainment. Just as Detroit builds cars, Manhattan runs financial systems, Hollywood makes movies. That industry employs thousands of people as it has for over one hundred years, surviving the Depression, World War II, and Uwe Boll. When one aspect of an industry is in disarray, you wouldn’t be surprised to see uninformed people going ‘OMG, the sky is falling!’

Calm down, Karen – Hollywood ain’t going anywhere. Did Wall Street fold up after 2008? Did Tesla kill Detroit? Industries have faced deeper, more existential crises than two simultaneous strikes and survived to tell the tale. Heck, the last time this happened to Hollywood was back in the 60s, right? If the strikes didn’t make Hollywood shrivel up in the 60s, why would it die now?

The Show Must Go On

Hollywood is changing into something else, but at the end of the day people still want to be entertained. If the current system doesn’t work, people will invent something new. That’s how Hollywood got its start – from Vaudeville. Before Vaudeville there were concert saloons, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Before that, you had guys named William Shakespeare writing plays at the Globe in London.

No, Hollywood isn’t self-destructing. It’s changing, it’s reckoning with the realities of twenty-first century industry. If anything, Hollywood has an opportunity to become a more sustainable, vibrant community for creative professionals. I hope that they take this moment to do so.

 

 

Sci-Friday #193 – Your Cat Was Abducted by Aliens

For this Sci-Friday – that time your cat was abducted by aliens. I’m not sure how Moxie and Mason would handle being abducted but I’d like to think they’d handle it like this kitty did. Enjoy!

The Night The Cat Was Abducted

Alien abductions as a whole have been reported since 1897. Wikipedia says: ‘At least one case of attempted abduction was reported in conjunction with the mystery airships of the late 19th century. Colonel H. G. Shaw’s account was published in the Stockton, California Daily Mail in 1897: Shaw claimed that he and a friend were harassed by three tall, slender humanoids whose bodies were covered with a fine, downy hair. The beings tried to accost or kidnap Shaw and his friend, who were able to fight them off.’

The psychology behind alien abduction stories is as murky and ambiguous as the stories themselves. Real? Fake? If the aliens are real, they should come down here and tell us themselves.  If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 

Superheroes – There’s No *There* There

Taking a break from producing audiobooks and writing Mike.Sierra.Echo to discuss why superheroes are so played out: There’s no *there* there, anymore. Like the tired Westerns of the 1970s and 80s, superhero movies, books, and video games are rapidly approaching the cliff where there’s just nothing else to talk about. We’ve been discussing superheroes for 90 years, folks. It was bound to happen at some point.

Don’t get me wrong – I love a well-told superhero movie. Thing is, sadly – most superhero movies aren’t well told. They aren’t doing interesting things with the the overarching trope of origin story > conflict > second-act heartbreak > third-act battle and redemption, anymore. They could, but they aren’t, and it’s getting *SO* played out.

What makes it really sad, is that people know intrinsically that superhero stories could be so much more. For example, Sean Kelly gives an EPIC breakdown of how much better we’d be if Batman actually fought crime instead of beating people up. Read on:

One of the big problems with “dark and gritty” Batman movies is that the people writing them can’t craft a mystery that’s so complex only Batman can solve it, so Batman’s “superpower” ends up being “the ability to violate people’s Constitutional rights.” Batman “gets results” because he doesn’t have to follow the rules that cops do, thus implying that cops would be so much more effective at their jobs if they didn’t have to follow those rules.

And the grittier the Batman movie is, the fewer powers he’s granted through his wealth. In a heightened reality Batman has supercomputers, ninja skills, fascinating nonlethal gadgets. A gritty batman has all the same powers as a cop in riot armor with no legal restrictions. If Jim Gordon tied up a criminal and beat the **** out of him while screaming “Tell me where the girl is!” he would be subject to lawsuits, suspensions, etc. Batman’s only “superpower” in a gritty movie is that nobody can stop him from hurting people.

The Batman of the 80s and 90s had “wonderful toys” that did set him apart from the police force, and they emphasized his battles against similarly-heightened supervillains with ray guns and magic plants and exploding rubber ducks. He’s not just putting muggers in wheelchairs. When Batman was first created, policing was very primitive, and the gulf between what the cops had – six-shooters and cars that didn’t have seatbelts – and what Batman has was much greater, which made the necessity of Batman seem much greater.

Nowadays though, when a GCPD officer calls in that the suspect is driving a “black… tank?” it gets a laugh, but why? Cops have tanks. Cops have lots of tanks. They have armor on-par with what a gritty Batman wears. They have shock guns and gas grenades and thermal imaging. Physically, cops nowadays have pretty much all the same capabilities as Batman does. The only thing that makes him different from them is that he’s gets to be *WORSE* than them.

This is what makes Batman an advertisement for abusive policing, packed movie theatres cheering for brutal violations of our social contract and an implication that we could have thousands of Batmans if we’d just look the other way and let cops take care of things. And truly, I’ve got a lot of Angry Facebook Uncles who have said just that when talking about the protests in our cities these last several months, “If we all just looked the other way for a night the cops could take care of this once and for all.”

How does one address this? Simple: make Joe Chill a cop. It’s hardly beyond the scope of imagination that a crooked cop in an economically-blighted city could be committing crimes on the side. Our real history is full of cops committing domestic abuse, rape, murder. So make Joe Chill into Officer Joe Chill, ten-year veteran of the GCPD. He tries to rob the Waynes, things go sideways, and he guns them down. Bruce identifies him at the station, the other cops cover for him, say Bruce is confused.

Joe Chill says that yes, it was his police sidearm used in the murder, but that’s because his gun was stolen from him. You know how these animals in Gotham can be. He gets two months paid leave as punishment for losing his sidearm. So instead of spending ten years learning how to fight against street crime and mob bosses, he spends ten years with his eyes firmly fixed on police corruption, the blue boy’s club that protects murderers.

Bruce knows that when cops die, that’s when cities crack down in new and horrifying ways, so he’s careful to never take a life. When he catches a cop beating his wife, or shaking down a store owner, or abusing a black man at a traffic stop, he leaves them tied up and dangling. Conservative pundits around Gotham would immediately label Batman a menace, and even as Batman starts using his computers and surveillance cameras to prove he was in the right, that these cops were dirty, people would still flock to defend the cop’s ****** version of events.

Joe Chill, of course, is now the Commissioner. Untouchable, beloved by the public for a series of high-profile crackdowns on things like petty theft and homeless people sleeping on subway vents for warmth. He’s sending in cops in riot armor to break up tent villages under overpasses, he’s arresting people who try to feed the homeless, he’s making the cops more and more militarized, and Gotham’s wealthy elite love him for it.

Jim Gordon is explicitly called out in the story for being the coward he is. In most portrayals of his early career he’s seen as a lone good cop surrounded by corrupt ones, but Batman shames him for the things he’s allowed to happen right in front of him. Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, has returned to Gotham after a long absence and is upsetting the wealthy elite with the way he behaves. He’s opened Wayne Manor to the indigent of Gotham City, the entire grounds are swarming with poor people. He doesn’t allow cops inside.

The people have had enough, they’re rising up in protest against the cops. And the cops are out for blood, riot shields at the ready, gas grenades prepared. They’ve got beanbag rounds and tasers and batons. But the people of Gotham have Batman. When the cops get ready to assault the peaceful protesters, that’s when Batman drops out of the sky, neutralizing their “less-lethal” armaments, taking them down before they can hurt anyone.

Batman takes control of the satellites around Gotham, broadcasting live to the whole world with instant replay what each cop was trying to do before Batman intervened. Eventually, as happens sometimes, the tide of public opinion turns enough that some officers start getting disciplined, and when that happens furious cops start quitting the force in droves, closing down entire precincts in protest. “You’ll be begging for us back” they say.

Except they don’t. That’s when Bruce Wayne steps in, using what’s left of his money and privilege to fund new alternatives to policing in that part of Gotham. Showing a new way of doing things. Volunteers going door to door to help their neighbors. And each volunteer wears a bat pin on their chest. #DefundBatman

Yeah, It’s Cool – So What?

You’re probably like me when you read Kelly’s pitch. I’d watch the *heck* out of that movie. I’d love to see a positive, actionable version of the future where each one of us is making positive change. They – large studios  – wouldn’t dare make that movie and that’s another reason why there’s no *there* there when it comes to superheroes.

The stories, the characters? Those are all intellectual property (IP). The companies that could afford to buy that IP – large studios and corporations like Disney and Sony – are  companies with quarterly earning reports and stock prices and analysts. Those corporate components are all there to make sure that the studio is going to make money next year. You can’t blame them from doing it, but the result is that large studios are notoriously risk adverse.

You can imagine the conversation. Some young middle-manager says: “I’ve got a great idea! Let’s make Batman a modern social justice warrior with a roadmap for alternative policing in large urban environments. People will love it. What do you say??”

I can hear the crickets from here.

This Will Not End Well

Long story long, is that when it comes to superhero movies – there’s no *there* there. We’re in the final stages of superhero story exploration and people are going to wake up one day and just … move on. Just as Westerns didn’t die all at once, superhero movies won’t die overnight. But they will die.

Here’s how it’ll happen. Superhero movies will stop making money. Then, studios will make fewer of them. We’ll start making fun of them – like, OMG, so played out! You’ll see the long slow slide continue for a decade, and then eventually all you’ll get are low-budget, low-interest shows for the old farts like us.

Ever think about that? Superhero movies and shows are going to be for Millennials what ‘Matlock’ and ‘Walker: Texas Ranger’ were for Boomers. Our kids and grandkids will roll their eyes when the movies or shows come on. “Let’s go folks,” they’ll say. “Pop Pop is watching his stories.”

So yeah – this is why I’m pretty much over superhero stories except for ones that do interesting things like Superhero Shrink. Don’t give me ultra-violence, don’t give me the same Heroes Journey. Give me something interesting – a different concept – to think about. Otherwise, when it comes to superheroes – there’s no *there* there.

Sci-Friday #192 – Detroit Meets The Naked Gun

Today in the funniest Sci-Friday ever, please enjoy a video I call: Detroit Meets The Naked Gun. Frank Drebin is an android and he’s out to clean up the future dirty city – enjoy!

For those of you that don’t know, The Naked Gun is based on a tv show called ‘Police Squad’ and it’s THE funniest crime show parody ever – hands down. Leslie Nielsen made a name for himself being the straight-faced comedic genius who could fart in front of the Queen of England and trade jokes with OJ Simpson. Oh yeah, OJ Simpson’s in those movies – it’s a delicious sense of irony watching him be funny. I digress.

So I give eli_handle_b․wav a lot of credit – this was really well done. I’m going to get back to producing The Battle of Victoria Crater – the next audio book. If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 

Notes from Eugene – 08/14/2023

Woke up to a smoky taste in my throat and red flag warnings across the state. Oregon is a character actor, and this week it’s playing a convincing role as Phoenix, Arizona:

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING FOR TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...

* WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions. Afternoon high temperatures
of 96 to 106 expected, warmest across the lower terrain of the
Foothills valleys and across the Willamette Valley. Some areas
in Willamette Valley from Salem to Eugene could reach 105 to 110
degrees today.

110 degrees is what I came to Oregon to avoid, but don’t tell Oregon that. To make matters worse, the Lookout, Salmon, and Bedrock fires have burned close to twenty-three thousand acres. If Oregon was a character actor in a one-man show at the Hult Center, it would include a second-act monologue entitled ‘Hope Those Hummers Were Worth It.’ Petty partisan politics and eye-rolling cringe are great fodder for commentary as we choke to death on climate change-induced catastrophe.

Moxie and Mason know none of this. During the night, they observed the grim milieu of overnight urban street crime from behind the safety of a sliding glass door. Another broken car window, another trash can ransacked for cans and bottles. RoseMarie has woken me more than once to help resolve the garbage strewn across our lawn, as though we were under siege by rabid racoons. Today we were lucky. Tomorrow, only God can say.

Meanwhile, the Today Show wants to remind us – along with the rest of America – that everything is fine and the biggest news stories are Jenna’s Bookshop and the Jonas Brothers’ mantra. As Murrow said in ‘Good Night and Good Luck,’  We have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information – our mass media reflect this.’ We’re seventy years’ too late to address this, the Today Show whispers, so try to enjoy what little time you have left.

Time to get to work.