John M. Ford on art and death

 "The poet and essayist Frederick Turner noted that, despite the current techno-bleat about artificial realities, the technology to store human personality has been mature for a long, long time. We call it Art. Whenever the Ninth is played, or Huckleberry Finn is read, or Falstaff catechizes, Beethoven and Twain and Shakespeare are recreated. It is something less than having them across the dinner table from you, to be sure, but it is also something a good deal greater than death."

-- "One More from the Back of the Hall," John M. Ford, 2001

sorting through messages from Mike

 In the course of reshelving various treasures, I came across a bit of printed-out electronic correspondence from my dear Mr. Ford. One line was, "I love you. In any language or subset thereof."

He said that he loved me, and he said it often.

He was such a Mike. 

I was so lucky. And I still am.

Thanks for listening.

various changes and housekeeping

 Do not be taken aback, please, if various access and permissions and such have recently changed, or if they change several times in the next day or seven. I'm trying some things out here with access and reading list and how much energy I have and how guilty I feel for not keeping up with things, as well as with figuring out what helps me get things done. If I dropped you from access, it doesn't mean I don't like you, OK?