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More on Gatsby and a quote

The plot of the novel The Great Gatsby turns toward the end on the vehicular killing of a pedestrian woman by Daisy Buchannan on the way back from an awkward gathering in downtown New York City to Long Island. F.S. Fitzgerald was prescient in the 1920s about the danger of automated vehicles. Vehicular deaths in the U.S. have steadily been above 30,000 annually since 1946, and of course drunk or drug-influenced driving is a major problem. I fear for my life every time I walk on a local busy street to reach a store or restaurant.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” –Helen Keller

This quote resonates with me because I made what some people considered a mistake by leaving a relatively secure job in financial journalism to get a graduate degree and try to be a scholar/teacher. Teaching turned out not to be the right calling for me, but I don’t regret going to graduate school. Sometimes in life, you have to take risks.

On my new book

I just got a physical copy of my new book, Nugae Venales: or “Jokes for Sale” in English: Humor, Brief Essays, and Short Poems. It is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and maybe a few others.

I am a bit worried about this one but also proud of it in some ways because it is more personal and more creative than my last book. There is a term in grammar called ellipsis, meaning when you leave some things out. It is basically a journal or diary for just over a year. It is designed in five chapters covering the seasons when the journal entries were written. I left some things out here. I hope enough so I do not offend anyone who might read it.

I have said this before, but the book is supposed to be a joke collection in some areas and serious in others.

Three quotes

“Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere–in the closing of a door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers, in the animals.” –Mother Teresa

This quote seems to be about the importance of being calm. I think almost everyone has anger problems at some level, and sometimes the anger is justified. But, even if justified, the anger needs to be surpassed. For some reason, Christopher Hitchens criticized Mother Teresa. I guess some thought she was an imperialist proselytizer in India, but I thought it was another example where Hitchens got too angry about religion.

“Man is not imprisoned by habit. Great changes in him can be wrought by crisis — once that crisis can be recognized and understood.” –Norman Cousins

Cousins was a 20th-century U.S. political journalist, author, professor, and peace  advocate. The statement brings to mind two things. The first is that it seems to be about the problem of addiction. The second is another quote from an insurance-company ad that I remember as, “we won’t let a crisis turn into a drama.'”

“Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.” –Daniel Webster

This quote makes me think of the amount of entertainment that technology makes available now and the moral risks that can result. There is also a famous short story about 19th-century lawyer/author Webster called “The Devil and Daniel Webster” published in 1936 about a farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Webster.

On three quotes

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.” –Marianne Williamson

From Wiki: “Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, spiritual leader, and political activist. She has written 13 books, including four … in the “Advice, How To, and Miscellaneous” category.” The above quote brings to mind the idea that even atheists believe in something in themselves that is like God. That belief can be dangerous if your ego grows too big, but it can also be a good thing, I think Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” was one of the most famous fictional examples of the idea becoming a danger in the person of Kurtz.

“If you dream it, have faith in it, and struggle for it–as long as it takes.” –Marian Wright Edelman

Edelman is a U.S. activist who has been influential on leaders like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Hillary Clinton. Her quote reminds me of the saying from the mythology expert Joseph Campbell that you should “follow your bliss.” The novelist John Updike mocked Campbell for saying that. I suppose it is a matter of balance between romance and reality.

On a quote and Juneteenth

“For someone visiting earth for the first time, the real treasures here would all be free. The smell of a sunlit prairie, the taste of a cold cup of spring water, the crunch of trackless snow underfoot. These are some of the earth’s supreme treasures. On intergalactic maps, if there are such things, the place where we live must surely be designated as a magical garden in space, a place of astounding beauty.” –Steve Van Matre

From Wiki: “Steve Van Matre (born March 20, 1941) is an American environmental activist, author and educator. He is the founder of the Earth Education movement and chair of the Institute for Earth Education.” Two thoughts, The quote reminds me if the Garden of Eden in the Old Testament. Also I find myself appreciating the Earth’s natural treasures more as I age; as you begin to “step off the stage” professionally and socially, a beautiful natural environment can be a consolation.

Regarding the new U.S. national holiday of Juneteenth, marking emancipation from slavery in the mid-19th century, the word seems to me to be the first national holiday that uses a portmanteau for its title, a combination of June and 19th. I watched some of speeches about it today, The only problem I had with one of them was that someone mentioned equality of outcome for all ethnicities. No, success and wealth should be based on merit and hard work, at least after the age of eight or at most 18. We should still take care of others, but people who earn success should be allowed to have more than others in a capitalist economy.

Below is a link to the promotional site for the book I am releasing this summer.

Nugae Venales Or “Jokes For Sale” in English: Humor, Brief Essays, and Short Poems by E.C. Walsh – Great books (exploreauthors.com)

And the Amazon link: Nugae Venales: Or “Jokes For Sale” in English: Humor, Brief Essays, and Short Poems: Walsh, E.C.: 9780578926483: Amazon.com: Books

It is basically an organized collection of jokes, brief poems, and brief essays. It is more personal and in some of the brief essays more opinionated than my book from last year (but I tried to leave out really personal difficulties), which was literary analysis. I think the e-book is already available on Amazon Kindle, and the paperback version should be available from Amazon early next week.

Like The Book of Irish Bulls that I published last year, it is designed to be easily scanned and can be used as a gift or coffee-table book.

A brief comment on Niall Ferguson’s Doom

From the text, page 11: “We tend to think of epidemics and pandemics narrowly, in terms of particular pathogens’ impacts on human populations. However, it is as much the social networks and state capacities that the pathogen encounters that determine the magnitude of a pandemic’s impact.”

Two thoughts. One is that again I really don’t like the word “pandemic”; I think it is hyperbole when applied to Covid-19, and the resulting government over-reaction affected me personally. The other is that a novel I really liked about this subject was Albert Camus’ The Plague, which deals with the psychological elements of medical scares.

A few quotes found on the ground (really in a local free library box)

“The mistakes that are made are made for all time.” –Rachel Carson

This quote brings to mind two things. One is another quote from Persian intellect Omar Khayyam: “The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on. Not all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” The other is one of my own sayings that unfortunately crops up at cynical times: people don’t forgive, and you can not re-live.

“Time and again in my life, contrary to all wise counsels, I have allowed myself to be guided by the inner voice – often with spectacular success.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Once at an after-work gathering when much younger, we started speaking about religious issues and whether we believed in God. My comment at the time was that I at least believe there is something in everyone that is like God. Atheists might just call it a conscience.

“The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.” –e.e. cummings

This is from a poem by a poet who was tortured and imprisoned in World War I. Below is the full work. My high school English teacher said the poem is referencing Pan, the ancient Greek god who was a sybarite.

Another few comments on a recent movie

Watched a Canadian film called Flashback last night. I only recommend it, if you like psychological dramas and drug-trip movies.

A few thoughts on it. There is a recurring theme about fearing to take a test in high school or college (I used to have nightmares about this). The film is ambiguous about whether the main character becomes a successful business employee or dies young from an overdose in a drug house. For some reason, the movie reminded me of Borges’ famous short story “The Garden of Forking Paths” because it is so unclear what is really going on.

The main character of the movie seems to have an Oedipal issue with his Mother, as well as a drug problem: at the finale, the main character ends up hugging his ailing Mother.

I think it is very difficult to simulate a drug trip in film. There have been many attempts. One I saw a few years back with the actor Justin Long was called The Wave. It was almost painful to experience but honest about the damage drugs can do to your mentality.

On a recent movie

This is a bit frivolous. I just watched Wonder Woman 1984, which I think was originally released a few months ago. It was not as good or coherent as the fist Gal Gadot Wonder Woman movie about World War I but still interesting.

It is about the Cold War thematically, I think.  I think the best line of the movie is when Diana as Wonder Woman says, “renounce your wish” to the main villain and adds, “I was talking to everyone because you are not the only one who has suffered.” The world averted a third global war in the last century, even though the Korean and Vietnam wars were bad. The issue with Arab countries since 9/11/2001 was different and hopefully over now.

The movie is a bit weird because her first male love from WWI in the first movie love comes back I think as a ghost. I think many people imagine first loves coming back. There is a pop song about this called “Go Insane” by Lindsey Buckingham, formerly of Fleetwood Mac.