Michael Harling's Blog, page 31

America the Beautiful

I come from New England; that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Granted, New York is actually one of the Mid-Atlantic States but, as I lived very close to the boarder of Massachusetts, the land, the people, the traditions and the seasons in the area where I grew up were influenced more by New England than the industrial megalopolis stretching between New York City and Washington, DC.
What? Not New England enough for you?And New England, for three or four weeks of the year, is arguably the pre...

Feeling Foreign in America

I love America; land of my birth, cradle of my childhood, my protector and provider for many comfortable and profitable years. Visits to the Motherland always filled me with a sense of belonging and the assurance that it was, and would always remain, my true home. This year, however, America seemed just a tad alien. More than on any other visit I found myself pausing to ponder over simple tasks or social customs. Where once I felt completely in step, I now found myself wrong-footed and occasi...

Home

Home, Garrison Keillor reminds us, is the place that, when you go there, they have to take you in. If this is true, then America is no longer my home.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.


I love being in America (where else on this planet can you get aerosol cheese and a chocolate pizza?) but travelling to America leaves something to be desired. Forget for the minute that I am never at ease rocketing through the stratosphere in an oversized cigar tube with wings and concentrate, instead, on the ind...

The Eye(brow)s Have It

Something strange has been happening for the past year or so: when I get my hair cut, as the process draws to a close, the barber—male or female—will lean close and whisper, “Would you like me to trim your eyebrows?”
Now, I have been having my hair cut—on two continents—for a number of years, and never before have I been asked that question, except during these past few months. I can assure you that my eyebrows have not become suddenly shaggier (okay, they are a little unkempt at times, but it...

A Grand Day Out

You can tell I’m getting too used to living in Britain; we went on a sightseeing trip to London the other day and I didn’t even bother to bring my camera. Consequently, all the photos for this post have been nicked from other sites. Don’t worry; I ripped off major news organizations, not budding photographers trying to earn a buck.

Anyway, my wife and I managed to hit the end of summer just right, and chose the final day of truly hot, sunny summer weather to make the trip to London to see The...

Writer’s Digest – the End of an Era

My writing journey has taken many twists and turns but, through the years, my constant companion has always been Writer’s Digest Magazine; and I was not alone. From the days of scribbling in college-ruled notebooks to the time when submissions were sent electronically instead of in padded envelopes, “Subscribe to Writer’s Digest,” was generally the first piece of advice given to any aspiring author. Every month, Writer’s Digest offered inspiration, instruction, insider views and the occasiona...

Across the Pond

One of the cool things about having a blog is that, occasionally, people send things to you. I mean, things you can use, or actually want, not something like the e-mail I got from one Anna Laura Festa reminding me that the 28thof August is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have aDream” speech and using that uninspiring nugget of historical trivia as a specious springboard to segue into a plug for Candace Allen (who I assume Ms Festa is representing in some capacity, though...

A Dark Reflection

As promised, I am back to tell you a bit more about the movie I was involved in. It is called A Dark Reflection and, no, it does not star anyone you have ever heard of, except maybe Marina Sirtis who played Counsellor Troi on Star Trek TNG but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it (if you can find it) because it has something important to day, something—believe me—that you will want to hear.
There is a problem in the aviation industry that executives, and governments, have been aware of for...

Going to the Movies

Remember the final quip in my last post, the one about Hollywood calling? Well, Hollywood didn’t call, but the Sussex version of Hollywood did. While wandering through the mall last Sunday, I was approached by a woman who I thought might be a marketer or member of a religious cult, but instead it turned out she was recruiting extras for a movie being filmed just outside of town.
After a quick look at my social calendar, I found that I was free pretty much forever, so I signed up.
And that was w...

End of Summer (Sale) and a Best Selling Book

No, summer has not abandoned us here in Sussex. In fact, it’s the best summer in living memory (or, at least, my memory), featuring long stretches of hot, sunny days interspersed with a few cool and cloudy ones, just to mix it up a bit. There is even a little rain now and again, which keeps the locals from panicking. (You really don’t want too much nice weather in Britain; people here start moaning about the apocalypse after four or five days of sunny weather.)

What is ending is the summer sal...