Category Archives: Culture

Donald Trump and the Conspiracy of Nonsense

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Barry Pomeroy

The internet is so effective at the promulgation of conspiracy theories we almost think it might have been made for that purpose. Marshall McLuhan suggests that each of our technologies simply extend our own abilities, just as a spear extends … Continue reading →

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Wonderful World of Disney

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Barry Pomeroy

When I was a child the opening credits of the Wonderful World of Disney TV show portrayed a world as far away as the moon. Rather appropriately, it seemed to my young mind, animated creatures shared the stage with live … Continue reading →

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The Vast Edifice of Culture

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Barry Pomeroy

The vast edifice that is culture is as fragile as a butterfly’s wings. It is as beautiful and as tenuous. Over the many centuries of struggle since we first began to bang rocks together we have tried to build something … Continue reading →

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Fifty Shades and a Silo of the Publishing Industry

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

The so-called vanity press has changed little in the public imagination until very recently. Traditionally, paying to have your book published was seen as synonymous with junk novels and sentimental and self-indulgent poetry. The only route to acceptance by the … Continue reading →

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How We Write the Future

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

Whenever I think of writing about the future, I always remember those early writers of science fiction beginning in the forties and extending into the seventies, Heinlein and Asimov among them, who thought we’d be smoking in spacesuits, and that … Continue reading →

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What Meat Means to Argentinians

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

Most of the people I met in Argentina were by times bemused and horrified that I was a vegetarian. It proved to be a challenge and I think, although she was very graceful about it, a bother for the mother … Continue reading →

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Writing is a Poor Person’s Art

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

Writing is the poor person’s art, just like soccer is the poor person’s sport. All you need to play soccer is a will, for a ball can be made out of torn nylon stockings, my friends from Chile tell me, … Continue reading →

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Proof of Alien Life, or at Least of Human Silliness

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

There has been a lot of excitement lately, in scientific circles at least, about the star that experiences periodic and unexplainable dimming. Conjecture about the causes of the phenomena range as widely as the people who are doing the dreaming … Continue reading →

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My Consistency Meter

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

As long as I can remember, I have always been concerned about consistency. Perhaps it had to do with the mixed messages of my childhood, as tossed from one place to another I had endearments muttered to me that were … Continue reading →

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Dean Koontz’s Innocence

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Barry Pomeroy

Dean Koontz’s Innocence likely deserves or at least should be subject to, a mention of some kind. It was so vividly told, and with such evocative imagery, that I expected more from it than a hackneyed Eden story. The magic … Continue reading →

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