Last night’s Harvest Moon … in the early morning

“When we were strangers, I loved you from afar; when we were lovers, I loved you with all my heart … on this Harvest Moon.”
~ Neil Young

Le penseur

When I was working in Paris, my favorite museum was the musée de Rodin … August Rodin, the French sculptor.

MC outside le musee de Rodin, Paris.

That’s pretty highbrow stuff, and I’m a big fan of the sculpture, if not the man, but I think his words need just a bit of tweaking for us less self-immolating folks:

For a person to live … he must have a fire in his belly for living.

Yup. That’s an MC-ism. You can quote me on that one.

Here’s my list of things you need to do to breathe air to those little embers of fire long-languishing like slowly dimming candlelight in your belly — the ones barely hanging on to their fire-essence — and fan them back into a fierce fire for living:

• Step outside in a rainstorm and don’t run for cover. Extra points if you dance with someone while raindrops are literally falling on your head.
• Go to the beach, plop down and curl your toes in the sand.
• Take a chance on something … anything. And if you screw it up, go back and try it again.
• If you’ve been cruel to someone, stop right now and call or write them. Ask for forgiveness.
• If someone asks you for forgiveness, give it straightaway.
• Choose the path of moderate to most resistance. Easy is for candles, not fires, in the belly.
• Skinny dip. Yes, stand at the edge of whatever body of water is near you … pull off your clothes and jump in. Head first if the water’s deep enough. Extra points if you make love while you’re in the water … with someone who isn’t named Loch Ness.
• When you’re showering tomorrow morning, sing. SING!
• Take a crazy, heart-stopping chance on love. Do it! Before you chicken out.
• Laugh so hard you snort through your nose and your belly hurts. Then come over to my house and make me laugh that hard too.
• Give your word … and keep it.
• Never complain. Never explain.
• Go to Paris. Fly Air France if you can.
• Send me a postcard or better yet, take me with you.
• Visit the musée de Rodin.
• Stand in front of le penseur – the thinker – and don’t think.
• Just feel that fire in your belly.

Show me the guts …

My MONEY magazine subscription came with an article on how to marry a billionaire. I don’t know. Color me new-fashioned, but shouldn’t MONEY be telling me how to make my own money, not latch on to someone because of his?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not averse to dating men with money. And I’ve dated more than a couple in my lifetime. I’ve dated rich men with their own major domos, to well-off men with waterfront homes and Porsches in the driveway, to men who simply made some really good cake and could afford to live comfortably if not extravagantly.

I’ve also dated men on the opposite end of the money spectrum — guys so broke our dates consisted of long walks, moon-gazing, used bookstore haunting, and mutual navel-gazing over endless cheap coffees. Our big nights out would come if somehow one of us scored free tickets to Fenway or had a friend bouncing the door at some hot new restaurant opening where free food and a single complimentary drink would tide us over ’til an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch. (more…)

MC in today’s Creative Loafing newspaper

Hey, my article on Chief Abbott (Cop-out in Copland) appears in print today on page 10 of Creative Loafing newspaper. I’d love to hear any and all comments (pro and con) about my suggestion of firing or requesting the resignation of Chief Abbott — so feel free to post your comments here.

If you want to read the story on this blog, just click here: Cop-out in Copland

The perfect relationship

Last year, a really nice man I had met at a holiday party invited me out for a drink. I met him, we chatted; we parted after an hour. He called me the next week to invite me for dinner and I had a choice: tell one of those oxymoronic “white lies” or tell him the truth. (more…)

Last night … Socrates and Sex steamed up the Sarasota News & Books!

Here are my notes from last night’s talk at Sarasota News & Books … I also spoke extemporaneously a bit about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan … but the text below is the gist of what was discussed. (more…)

Socrates, sex, and the SRQ

Tonight, at 7:00 pm, I’ll be at Sarasota News & Books — one-half of a two-author presentation. The woman going on before me is Theresa Rose, who, if I were a betting woman, I’d say she’s going to be talking about sex!

And that’s a good thing. ‘Cause immediately following her, I’m going to bore the pants off of anyone who still has theirs on after her probably smokin’ reading — by talking about, of all things, Socrates. Yup. That’s right.

Let me grab my Socratic thinking cap!

We’ll both talk for about 10-15 minutes, followed by a wide open Q&A session with the audience — no question too stupid, too smart, or too sexy for this duo.

We’ll both be signing copies of our books, as well, for anyone smart enough to buy them! 😉

So, c’mon down to Sarasota News & Books tonight and let me light a fire in the nether regions of your mind … I’ll leave Rose to the rest.

Got a Question for MC?

This Thursday, July 23, I’ll be speaking, reading, and taking questions (and of course, signing copies of my book Sideways in Sarasota) from the audience during a book event at Sarasota News & Books. The shindig begins at 7 pm — I, along with another Creative Loafing contributing columnist — Theresa Rose — will be introduced by Cooper Levey-Baker, editor of CL.

Even if you already have my book … feel free to come and listen to me spout off on a new topic I’m ranting about this week — never previously written about (by me) and so esoteric it just might bore your pants off. It’s also your chance to ask, live and in person, all those questions you’re burning to ask but to shy to ask over this blog (as if).

And, if showing up in person to ask a question is just too, too hard, feel free to submit a question here and I will answer your question on this blog. Just be aware, your question will appear here in a separate “answer” blog, not in the responses section of this blog post — but I won’t identify the person asking a question — not even the aka name.

I’ll take questions between now and noon on Thursday, July 23 — answers will be posted on the 24th — that is, if anyone even asks any ….

Boomer and the butterfly

And all men kill the thing they love . . . — Oscar Wilde, the ballad of reading gaol

Tonight, the story of Boomerang and the Butterfly.

I was walking Boomer, as I always do. Taking him out for his evening air, his nightly stretching of the legs, sniffing of the air, the remembrance of his life before adoption by the woman who keeps him inside. Away from his beloved nature.

And he did, and does, love his nature. When he was wild, he would sit a few feet away from me as I worked in the yard pulling weeds or digging up old tree stumps. He’d go to the pond nearby and try to catch turtles. He’d climb trees. He even killed baby birds in those months before I moved him indoors. (more…)

MC in today’s Sarasota Herald-Trib! Happy Father’s Day!

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune picked up a piece I wrote and is running it in today’s paper. If you pick up a copy, the column, titled What a Dad Needs to Tell a Daughter, is on page A12. Or you can read it online at the newspaper’s website, by clicking here: What a Dad Needs to Tell a Daughter. (more…)