The Official Site of Author, Joseph D. Newcomer
I wonder about the type of person or entity that would be interested in grand declarations of faith, love, and loyalty. I wonder, and I imagine that a human, creature, or deity requiring such displays would be undeserving of them for the same reasons they require them. We are not the things that are demanded [...]
We have no needs, no real drive, and we can't be bothered to understand this passion in others. We are full bellies in a grocery store, unaffected by desire. And so, we stagnate in boredom and ennui, hoping to find the intangible thing that we feel we’re missing, which is our want for a need, for [...]
(& info on how to listen to Mas Nova) I rarely write new music these days, but I was recently inspired by the harrowing struggle of several amazing humans I know who are dealing with addiction. So, here's a new original song. It probably won't end up anywhere but here and on some social media [...]
The sentiments of old poems on old statues have been abandoned. Once, they filled patriots with rightful pride, but that pride is now only ego, and the meaning of the symbol is lost on nationalists who ignorantly boast of their allegiance for an idol they are unable to understand. The plain language, as esoteric as [...]
When someone mentions “The Good Book,” I always assume they are speaking of Slaughterhouse-Five. I think the world would be a kinder, gentler place if we based more of our morality on Vonnegut’s works rather than the books many of us revere. He passed in April of 2007, but I think of him whenever I read or write. Sometimes, I consider what he would have said about things I’m trying to put words to.
Vonnegut probably would have said that people are Mistake Machines. We all make mistakes, and we are as prolific and proficient at making them as we are at making anything else we have ever made. He also may have said that the best Mistake Machines of all are also fantastic Apology Machines because, while we cannot avoid making mistakes, seeing as how we are Mistake Machines, we possess the ability to admit when we are wrong. The best Mistake Machines can avoid continuing to make a particular mistake once they are aware of the mistake they made, and they can right their course through history. Some of their mistakes have also been their greatest achievements, but Mistake Machines find the greatest source of their humanity and their humility in their own apologies.
Apology Machines make the best kind of Mistake Machines… the best kind of people.
