Author Archives: Arlan

Polyphonic Light Brigade

I use my cell phone for my morning alarm. It plays, with all the grandeur it can muster, “Leichte Kavallerie Overture.” To me it conjures the most famous Charge of the Light Brigade. Thus it is likely to remain my alarm for some time to come. The levels of irony, you see, make this an unassailable choice. For the tune Read More


Here I am, once again

How odd that we most need help when we are least capable of asking for it. I am grateful the bad weather did not blow in yesterday, for I felt that I had to get home. I needed the emotional stabilization that comes from family. I don’t know why. Nothing has happened recently that is in the least out of Read More


From exposure to curtains

“I like looking outside. Even when it’s night, I like to see the dark,” said my brother. I know what he means. Of course it is grand to look out at a sunny day, but even when it is raining, when it is gloomy or pitch dark, there is a reassurance and a healthy reminder to looking outside. The weather Read More


I put my eyes in prison

My safety glasses arrived. Through the many years I wore only a contact, if anything, my left eye was subjected to no correction. It was very upset when I put this lens on it. It squirmed around. I saw double; things alternated between looking much more clear and much less clear. I don’t know if it is just glasses as Read More