By Me, Robin J. Engel The beauty of this country, as we all know, is the fact that we have the freedom to live and think as we please. Even the people who don’t support our political ideologies and vie instead for Communism, even the ones who think we are too oppressive, even the right…
MADMEN – a period piece beginning in 1960. Don Draper. He reminds me of the Marlboro man. Somewhat aloof, but smiles often enough to draw you in. I remember taking a class in psychology in college. The semester was broken into 6 week intervals, dabbling in different areas of psych, giving you a taste of…
WESTWORLD The original idea was a movie created by Michael Crighton, creator / writer of Jurassic Park. After seeing the show Westworld, the HBO series, I watched the original movie, but it was dismally boring compared to the new, improved, high tech version. Still, it’s not for everyone. Although the show is fascinating in and…
An addendum: I have done what I sometimes accuse others of doing – taking a literal approach to a biblical story. If I were to interpret the Abraham story as metaphorical, I would say that the ‘child’ is a representation of attachment, an idea which can be found in the Buddhist traditions. “Taken together, the…
I’ve been watching Breaking Bad, a show about a high school chemistry teacher who gets lung cancer at age 50 and decides to cook methamphetamine, one of the worst drugs in existence, so he can make money to pay for his cancer treatments and leave a nest egg for his family. Actually, aside from the…
What is it exactly that I believe? I like to pride myself on saying that I don’t actually believe anything, not completely, because I leave room for possibilities. There are at least 2 sides to every story, and thinking we are correct about anything is a collective myth. Of course, that leaves one imbalanced sometimes,…
I think it’s important for you to know my process. The following are characters that I wrote about based on some writing exercises I created. I came up with a few ideas about a character, then proceeded just to write, without edification or premeditation. Sometimes, I have an outline for a story, and sometimes, I…
I don’t really like the idea of plastic surgery. I realize that people are going to continue to have it, and it has been accepted as a norm. Don’t get me wrong. I look at my face in Zoom meetings and obsess about my sagging jowls as much as the next middle aged woman. But…
Abe’s life was shaped by his history. My dad came from “the old country”, somewhere in Poland, but he came early enough so he had no accent. Abe was the baby of the family. His father died when Abe was 3, from Tuberculosis, but Abe had several older brothers and sisters as surrogate parents. Life…
Alpha (the beginning) The Dark Tower; I am still wondering what that means. I have always thought about the deeper meaning of life, or the nature of reality. My life journey has had dragons, princes, and princesses, because I couldn’t have made it through without the women in my life. The sojourn has had castles…