Month: March 2008

Whenever I pull out the ladder, which is often, for some reason light bulbs burn out constantly in my apartment, Finney immediately climbs to the top of the ladder. Good boy! Who’s a great little ladder climber? You are!

Big news! The pope has added some more sins! More ways to go astray. I like some of them, actually. They are:

1. “Bioethical” violations such as birth control.
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research.
3. Drug abuse.
4. Polluting the environment.
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor.
6. Excessive wealth.
7. Creating poverty.

I like 4 through 7, and have committed 1 and 3. Maybe 4. And compared to some people in the world, maybe 5 and 6 (but for the record, I do not make a lot of money, I’m just saying). How am I doing with the 10 commandments? Not so good. I haven’t murdered anyone or born false witness against my neighbor or committed adultery. And I haven’t coveted my neighbor’s wife, but I have coveted her husband on occasion.

I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Honor your Father and Mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

I want to call my brother Douglas to ask him to explain all of this to me, but I suspect he’s going to have a busy day (he works for Merrill Lynch). But what the fuck? About Bear Stearns, I mean. I understand what happened, but how could it happen? Actually no, I only understand the bare bones of what happened. I need more back story. I need all the gray areas explained to me, I’m missing the nuance. I really don’t know what happened.

Bottom line: Should I be scared?

What should I stock up on? Will they need writers in the Great Depression of ’08?

I thought I was going to be done yesterday with the first draft of this audio forensic piece, but it looks like I’m going to need two more days. So, I won’t be able to take a break until Tuesday. Also, my publisher said they are sending the manuscript back with the tiniest, minutest, changes, but everything is mostly okay, so that sounds good. They asked for the epilogue by Tuesday, which again points to Tuesday as being Miller time. But come Tuesday, I’m not doing ANYTHING.

Meanwhile, here is a pigeon, dancing around on the fire escape, taunting poor Finney.

There was a fire in the building across the street yesterday. They got it under control quickly, but I got a shot of this guy climbing to the roof. (This is a five story building. It was unnerving to watch.)

If you’re in New York, the Parapsychology Foundation is hosting an event on March 27th that will include a screening of a new film by their Film Archivist, Irish Artist Susan Macwilliam, and selected readings from Awareness, a book written by the medium Eileen Garrett about her psychic abilities. (Eileen Garrett was the Foundation’s co-founder.) I’ll be going!

Thursday, March 27th, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Baruch College Newman Conference Center
151 East 25th Street, Room H763
FREE, but donations accepted.

Susan MacWilliam’s film is 13 Roland Gardens. It features Eileen Coly, Garrett’s daughter, talking about her mother’s famous R101 Airship seance, where Garrett communicated with the dead crew of the British airship which crashed in France on October 5, 1930, killing 48 people. Mrs. Coly also talks about living above the Harry Price Laboratory at 13 Roland Gardens. Price was a well known psychical researcher from the 1930’s and 1940’s.

The picture is from the Bedfordshire Library website. “National feeling surrounding the disaster was huge; the funeral procession through London was watched by thousands. The bodies were then taken by special train to Bedford to be laid to rest in a communal grave in Cardington cemetery.”