Reader Responses

Photo by Ryan Snaadt

“Reader Responses” showcases selected comments from individual posts and emails received from subscribers through Contact in the navigation bar above.

• “On a related note, I’ve been thinking recently about ‘dark matter.'”
• “Thanks for Sha Na Na! A great morning smile!”
• “The wittiest person I have ever met.”
• “I remember house sitting about a decade ago in Cupertino for some friends and you crashed there one or two nights. We also went running and I was in my late 20’s and you lapped me quite a bit that night if I recall correctly. You went nonstop huffing and puffing for 4 miles. I just ran/walked about two miles and change I think.”
• “Day running aside, you look much the same today as you did in 1986 ❤️❤️❤️”
• “Professor I read your blog pretty much every Sunday. This was a great post. I think I’ll go to falafel’s drive in for lunch now!”
• “Your best writing since the junior high dance and the couch. I too walk, with abandon, in and around various places I probably should not. Vulnerability is the word. In the dark, diurnal animals are at a disadvantage. And places such as Tikal and Guatemala City are to be respected as they are representative of rural and urban jungles. Death is a component of both.”
• “Profound. Sad. I can’t find words to respond.”
• “Jule was my neighbor. His younger brother was my best friend growing up. I spent many hours at the Johnston’s house in Yanceyville, N.C. Even though Jule was five years older than me, I knew him very well. He was an outstanding young man, and He will never be forgotten by the many who knew him. Thanks for remembering Jule!!”
• “Wow!!! What an incredible story! In all my years, I have never had an experience like yours.”
• “It’s not only photos – the mirrors in my house are doing strange things to the color of my hair! Thank you for Cillian Murphy’s gorgeous reading of ‘When You Are Old.'”
• “First of all, don’t marry her, too pushy. Secondly, not interested in people from your childhood?”
• “I will never forget that night, nor any of the times, a messenger animal, ‘spirit animal’ visited me.”
• “Losing your remaining parent moves you up a notch to the ‘next on the list’ position. You start to look back–at the next generation. Losing a parent to dementia is to lose that person again and again. But I found that as my kids remembered the good times, my mother was reborn in the most delightful way. It seemed as if only the good remained. That’s the place I like to go back to.”
• “Thank you for the marvelously entertaining, non-PC WC!”

Like fiction? Check out the “Mercury trilogy” (The Gringo and Laura Fedora) as well as the autobiographical Nine Lives here. Also, go to Robert Brancatelli. The Brancatelli Blog is a member of The Free Media Alliance, which promotes “alternatives to software, culture, and hardware monopolies.”