2020 Closer

George Orwell identified four motives for writing in which he feels exists in every writer to a certain degree. They are sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. He also said that good prose is like a windowpane and all writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery.

With that spirit, and with my own love of reading, I decided to give this Substack essay thing a shot. On Facebook I have been known to speak out politically more in the last four years than the previous sixty two of my life, although the first three years or so I was still grappling with more than one or two syllables. I also lean toward injecting some wit into the mix but usually with serious intent. Kidding on the square, as they say.

I’m also interested in the visual art and music worlds with which I’ve wrangled, with a modicum of success, my entire adult life. I will continue my journey as long as I’m physically able – as Pablo Casals famously said at age 95 when asked by a young reporter why he was still practicing as hard as ever, he replied, “Because I think I’m making progress.”

To kick this thing off and to make it light, here is a photo I took of the Sweetwater Wetlands here in Tucson on Christmas Day, with the bonus that it was a beautiful day for a walk with my wife. The Sweetwater Wetlands is one of the most important functional, environmental, and educational components of the City of Tucson's reclaimed water system. The facility was originally constructed in 1996 to handle backwash filter water from the reclaimed water plant. The wetlands now uses reclaimed water exclusively and consists of several ponds surrounded by cattails, willows, and cottonwoods. Ducks visit the ponds while Red-winged, Yellow-headed, and Brewer’s blackbirds frequent the cattails. Thick stands of saltbush provide cover to Song Sparrows, Abert’s Towhees, wrens, and many other species.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post…more to come!