Sometimes, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t feel much like writing. The good news is that these periods often coincide with the brief spasms where I feel like reading. This gives me material that is far better than anything I could offer you at the moment. This comes from Ann in Essex, Connecticut. She writes in on the subject of onerous marketing schweck being beamed directly into my face in planes, hotels and airports, something I complained about in a prior extremely grouchy posting. Ann writes:
“I completely agree with you but I guess it’s just part of the price we pay for living in a capitalist society. Maybe there’s an opportunity here for designer ear-plugs and special Gortex-like glasses that filter out commercials but let everything else in?? If you follow-up on my idea, I’d appreciate an equity position.”
That was posted on May 8 at 12:12 pm. About five minutes later, she added the coup de grace.
“P. S. By the way, I have to be careful of where I read any of your writing. Last year, I was reading “What Would Machiavelli Do?” in the dining room of a Catholic retreat center and laughing so hard, this was a breakfast, that one of the nun’s came over and asked me what was so funny. I showed her the book, and explained that the humor was ironic. She asked if she could borrow it. The next day she told me the book was irreverent, wanted to confiscate it and finished in a finger-wagging tone ‘I told the other nuns about it.’ I insisted she return it to me.”
Ann earns extra points for mentioning my book about Machiavelli, which remains a classic in its genre.