Missive the Eighth:
The Long March Begins
When the Dog Days End.
A List, a Website, the Means of Production, and Grand Plans.
Dateline: Tuesday, August 15, 2000, at 1900 hours CDT.
Conway,
Arkansas, USA
By
D. Ebenezer Baldwin Bowles
The mind can go stale quickly, especially in the Dog Days of August. I suspect this will be a short letter.
Much of the culture is marking time, or sleeping. Labor Day holiday is but two weeks in future. Then the collective American mind can get fired up and do great things during the Long March toward Christmas.
Those of you hard at work, day in and day out, must be caught in the end of something, the planning of something else.
Only the schools and football teams are cranking-up early. They, too, once waited for Labor Day, but nowadays it takes longer to educate less. The games go on forever.
I like to watch television programs, melodrama and science fiction: X-Files and The Practice on Sundays, Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Tuesdays, Voyager and The West Wing on Wednesdays, ER on Thursdays. They're all in repeat mode, so TV offers no solace. I've tried, but just can't get too enthusiastic about Survivor and I Want to Be a Millionaire.
I do, however, want to be a millionaire. I survive along with the rest of you.
In Missive the First I left some things unreported because I thought sixteen-hundred words pushed the envelope. I wanted to tell you why you were grafted to the E-mail subscription list for Letter from Cricket Song -- and tell you what you might expect if you continue our twice-weekly tryst. Since I don't have a clue about what to do next, I think now would be as good a time as any to wrap-up that piece of old business.
Our list of about 70 readers is compiled from three sources:
1) Me. I surveyed the jagged line of my diminished circle and found a few pearls in the dust. That allowed me to put together a little database of friends, associates, and bemused others. (When you've blown away as many bridges as I have, it's hard to compile a very long list.) My mate and No. 1 Son added a few more and presto: instant readership!
2) Chad. Radical punker and environmental extremist that he is, the young techie and loyal CornDancer intern scoured his bare-bones Linux system for a handful of E-mail addresses and passed 'em my way. He's on the run, too, so his list was sparse and well qualified.
3) Wilton. The beleaguered and immensely talented painter-sculptor gathered his list and tossed it to the cruel winds. I was lucky enough to catch it. If great Art is forged in adversity and nurtured by agony, then Wilton stands ready for greatness. "Art and religion and drink. All of them ruin to a poor lad," Wilton's mentor, Mr. Cary, told him in the bittersweet haze of midnight thirty. "Leave 'em to the millionaires than can afford to go to the devil first-class all the way. You've got to work for your living."
So, we've made a list. We've created a website. We've secured the means of production. We've sat down together and talked about the morrow. We have grand plans.
I'm here for the long run. There's nothing left to do. If you stay, here's what you can expect during the Long March to Christmas, 2000.
(If you're interested, the mission statement of CornDancer & Company is embedded in the text of one of our web pages, The Developmental Website: What Is It?)
I'll continue to write Letter from Cricket Song. It's the point of contact. I've a few themes in mind: the esoteric and the arcane; politics; business communications; the meaning of the triad of data, information, and knowledge; computing technologies; cinema and other select aspects of popular culture; the amazing adventures, innovative enterprises, instructive insights, and personal triumphs of my friends and associates; and anything else of curiosity that passes my way. I'll also continue to develop the Small Business Vortex.
I'm tryin' to persuade others to join the fray. The goal is to publish one fresh dispatch each day of the week. Five days remain to be filled. Two prospects are hot -- well, let's put it another way: Harry and Lawrence haven't told me to take a hike yet. (Come on guys, your public awaits you!) I'm persistent. I believe the five will arrive. Something good will happen.
Chad is enrolled in University for the fall semester. His formal quest to master computer science is renewed. He promises to continue reporting on Linux.
Wilton is wrapping up a thick web of loose strands and putting it behind him. He prepares for an autumn of profound creation. Visit the General Store now and then to see his new works.
And you? What wonders await you at the end of the Dog Days? Can you once again rouse the dream, renew the flame, push ahead to achievement and accomplishment? I think so. I do.
WATCH FOR MISSIVE THE NINTH in your mailbox just before midnight on Friday,
August 18, 2000. If you don't want any
of my missives, let me know. I'll
remove you from the subscription list immediately upon demand. On the other hand, if you want to add a
friend or associate to the list, please forward their name and email address to
ebenezer@corndancer.com
Visit the web site at www.corndancer.com