Watch me pull a rabbit out of a hat
...and friends
Greetings Moose and Squirrel:
So, in case technology failed to mention this to you, I’ve just had a birthday.
Did you just mentally wish me a happy birthday? Thank you. I thought I heard you just now. (really. I perked up a little. And now you’re smiling and shaking your head and thinking, okay this newsletter just got weird, but I kind of hoped it would….)
For my birthday, my hero spouse took me to see a magic show at Gallow Green, which is one of my favorite locations in Manhattan, precisely because it is already magical.
I am sworn to secrecy (really. The show swears you to secrecy.) but what I will tell you is by all that is holy, don’t play cards with anyone who isn’t already a friend of yours. Also? Under no circumstances should you ever bet money on anything that has to do with pointing to the one thing in the one spot. Keep a close hand on your belongings at all times, and truly, be very very happy that the world is mostly full of mostly honest people. Because, WOW.
Which makes me think of other intentional misdirections. Do you know this word?
If you don’t, go ahead and click to see the definition. I’ll wait.
Geez you’re lazy today. Fine. Obscurantism is the intentional obscuring of truth. It can be done in two ways: either 2) by deliberately presenting facts in a way that it intentionally hard to comprehend (think academics with their Latinate vocabulary, but also think Trump with his remedial and broken sentence structures), or 1) by simply restricting the spread of knowledge — as indicated by the link above, which doesn’t actually go to a definition of Obscurantism, but rather goes to a link which is super cool—an online book which you page through, which is a satire called The Letters of Obscure Men — the online book is in Latin first (author’s dates are 1488-1523) and then is translated into English (in 1909) and you (in 2022 or beyond!) can virtually page through all 600 pages and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever—not to mention that the book, in a weird, some might say magical, coincidence starts each chapter with an elaborate greeting to the book’s readers. Much like this newsletter.
Writing:
If you are looking for a super-short essay to talk about with friends, do read and share this very short essay I wrote in response to this most recent slaughter of innocent humans by someone who has intense personal pain and doesn’t know what to do about it since they think no one cares — the essay is about growing up in Texas and it does not mention any school shootings or any mass shootings at all, but is not an easy read, so be warned. It is called A Texan Take on Guns, and my apologies to anyone who recognizes themselves (I didn’t get anyone’s permission to write this).
I also have cool news: I was invited to speak on another podcast. We are recording this week. It’s out of California. I’ll give you more information as I get it.
And I was completely flattered when Richard Peabody asked to publish a small excerpt from my Lithuanian novel in his fabulous now-online Gargoyle Magazine. Hear that, literary agents? It’s getting published one way or another—!!
Other than that, there’s just the stuff I from last week. If you’re keeping track: I have two short stories forthcoming. One is in New Myths Magazine in September and the other is the same month, in After Dinner Discussion Magazine. One is a story about the queen of the snakes and the other is about a guy who has a hole in his gut.
If you ever miss reading a week of this newsletter (and frankly, who hasn’t?) you can always keep track of my new publications on my website at mmdevoe.com. For example, this is the list of all the nonfiction articles that I’ve recently published.
"A Texas Take on Guns" is a powerful piece. And important to read -