I don’t write in a journal everyday, but I have accumulated many entries over the past 50+ years beginning in 1966. Some items evolved into longer works. Among the leftovers little pieces survived. I thought a collection of these with a piece culled from the same date in a past year would make an interesting yearbook. The consistencies and inconsistencies of mind, skipping back and forth across time, provide varied perspectives. It is difficult to remember the context of the past we’ve lived; we also make suppositions about times that predate ourselves.

The few alterations from original drafts were to improve clarity. The worst of my work is not included. There remains enough mediocrity and immaturity to make me feel humble and you feel smart. There are also moments of accidental insight and incidental humor.

Author Stephen Crane referred to his little pieces as pills…apparently they were small and somewhat hard to swallow, but good for you.


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Friday, March 3, 2017

8th in Line



from this week in March, 2016  (I was 71)

         8th in Line
The product I produced
was a minor attachment
on the assembly line
as the units passed through
at the rate of 150-200 each year
I was responsible for product improvement
Every year an updated application
was integrated into each unit manually
It took 180 to 184 workdays
to complete the process
The applications were complex
designed to fit the individual needs
of diverse units with specifications to be learned
even as they were continually modified
Upon completion the product proceeded
to further facilities before they could be deemed ready
for implementation and use
into long “careers” of service
mostly unknown to me
I have little knowledge
of how effective my installations were

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