ABOUT TWENTY YEARS ago, while living in Arizona, I read a good number of the mystery novels by Tony Hillerman.  They centered on the exploits of a Navajo detective who used his senses of harmony and balance to solve crimes on the enormous reservation that covers parts of  Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.  It includes Hopi and other tribal sections.  Robert Redford bought the rights to some of the material and co-produced this with George R. R. Martin and others. One of the benefits of the “whodunnits” here is the look into the Navajo culture. It’s matriarchal and mystical, holistic and animist; it’s beautiful, noble and vulnerable. [There’s currently a Ken Burns’ documentary on the American Bison and the effect is the same:

[Authors Note–Please Read: This piece is for education and entertainment only. ] I am not the boy who cried “Wolf!” –Besides, one wolf does not a disaster make. Actually, I like wolves; they are beautiful, intelligent and have complex social structures. They work together hunting and caring for the pups. Many of the First Peoples’ cosmologies depict the wolf as an important fellow traveler  who has suffered a fate not unlike their own: misunderstood, removed, contained, and demonized (as exhibited by the folktale in the case of the wolf). [By the way, I am reviewing a series about the Navajo  called “Dark Winds” in the Movies section of this blog.] In this early phase of AI, this age of robo-advisors, and investment professionals who only

    [This piece, taken from the writing collection of the same title, is re-posted as an anniversary tribute. Dad died on August 12, 2013. ]       The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder is my favorite book. It is probably also the most underrated novel of the last century. I never merely re-read it; every few years it summons me, and like a somnambulist I turn to the bookshelf and reach for my copy. A novel such as that is a conjurer’s orb: your hands surround and caress it, your eyes peer into its depths and… a voice sounds. The voice wields the kind of authority that dismisses fiction. The images, the characters—the story chronicles a series of events so rife with Truth

THIS MOVIE HAS the distinction of being completely unpredictable almost from the very beginning. Because the theme is metaphysical or “multi-versal,” it draws from the infinite to introduce many zany, funny, curious or compelling alternate worlds in a two hour timeframe. There is martial arts fighting; it never seemed gratuitous, however, and at times it provided some fun. The film features a number of veteran Asian actors who now, finally, get the recognition they have deserved and been denied: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and James Hong, have acted for decades each. Hong, for example, is 94 and acted with Clark Gable. At least two members of the cast have already won awards for best actor or best supporting actor, Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.

  THIS MOVIE is directed by Sarah Polley, produced by Frances McDormand, and featuring a cast of acclaimed and powerful actors, predominately women. It is based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews which was set in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia that did (does) exist. The movie, however, is in English, and there are no references to location or country–there don’t need to be. As for the temporal (and just as with Banshees of Inisherin) it could have taken place a century ago though the year is 2010.My first reaction, because the movie does focus on intense debate among a group of women trying to reach a life-changing consensus (in part regarding justice), was that the style reminded me of the female version of

THIS IS A FUN SHOW. Natasha Lyonne’s character Charlie captivates the action with a virtuous brand of “superperception”—she can tell when others are lying. And so, as the series’ title suggests, this can have advantages in poker: no one can bluff you. But upon attracting the scrutiny of a Nevada casino mogul, her brand of talent leads to a prolonged road trip and sets the stage for forthcoming episodes. You see, in addition to the advantage it gave her in poker, her perceptive power often reveals clues to crimes, and her merely refined powers of observation and logic create no less than a charming nomadic “Columbo” with reddish blonde hair, a slightly raspy voice, and a sense of justice that won’t leave her at peace

[Note: I apologize for the late post as I watched the film two days before the Golden Globe Awards show. My only confident notion, having seen few of the nominated films, was that Colin Farrell would win Best Actor.] THIS DRAMA IS HARD TO DESCRIBE; it’s been referred to as comedy, tragedy, dark, dark tragi-comedy; labels are risky: you might miss the film for the wrong reasons (you might also see it for the wrong reasons). But the greater risk is to miss the movie. It takes place in a tiny village on an island off the coast of Ireland. The setting is probably 40 years ago, though without references within the film to hint at the era, it could have just as easily have

[Author’s Note: this year marks my 29th “anniversary.”] Until I saw the date, February 2, it hadn’t occurred to me that it was my “birthday” again. This birthday–which is more of an anniversary–marks for me the first day of uninterrupted sobriety 29 years ago. It hadn’t seemed like a very important day at the time; in fact, if anyone had asked then, I would have said it was the worst day of my life.  I was bloated and quaking. My eyes were yellow like a cat’s–from jaundice. And my store of courage was so low I had to be led around like a child. There’s no question that on that day, my second life began. It would help to note here that I am not

  A Token of the Holly King By William Hecht Weekday afternoons at two o’clock, he began to look for her. Each time the little bell sounded to announce that the door to Ye Olde Coffee and Tea Shop had been opened, he would turn his head. As three o’clock grew near and brought with it the possibility that she wouldn’t arrive that day, he began to resent the other customers who instead appeared in the door at the sound of the bell. He imagined that she must have begun working at one of the neighborhood shops in mid-November, and that she probably arrived at work in late morning and took a break in the afternoons. Though it was nearly Christmas and she visited most

    THE PRESENT has the unique quality of being so imposing–so suddenly familiar–that despite more surreal or otherworldly events that history will deem “tumultuous” or “cataclysmic,” people never quite view themselves as living in a time of great change. Of all the happenings in the US that have broken the rules of logic, sanity,  or even common sense in recent years–and they are legion–one stands out to me. But first, I am going to list things that, twenty years ago, I would have sworn could never happen in the US during my lifetime: The US electoral system elected a “reality” TV show star who had filed for bankruptcy a number of times, had no political experience, and claimed to never read books. He also