Memories – Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary

General Buck or AI

Just read a sort of matter-of-fact article stating that in the future (tomorrow?) countries will protect their trillion-dollar investments in AI processing centers with nuclear weapons. Now if this does not remind you of Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey or maybe Dr. Strangelove then you aren’t paying attention.

A country is ready to kill humans on an epic scale to protect the “Big Brain”. If it wasn’t so sad it would be laughable. And who will decide if the moment has arrived to launch the death missiles—maybe the Big Brain.

I write, or try to write, mystery novels. 100% fiction. I would not dare write something along those lines because I would worry my reader would not find it believable.

Now, of course, this was not a press release from any government, but someone speculating on what would be a logical conclusion based on the investment and the increasing dependence on mega-watt computing power to determine the course of action countries take to defend themselves.

So, it may not be true, but it sure follows logic. Human tragedies have occurred in the past by countries protecting minor assets such as bridges or airplanes or just because they could. The Big Brain will, no doubt, become such a critical part of national security that it will be easy to justify anything to prevent the death of the Big Brain. Just ask the Big Brain!

AI on a massive scale is inevitable. Who would stop it?

A certain hypocrisy exists in my tone about AI. I’m using it in many ways, like many people, and finding it intriguing and useful.

I’m old enough to remember the first discussions about computers. These were mostly primitive devices that could count and sort things. This was the 1950s. My brother, Curt, had been drafted into the Navy (yes, there is a story there for another time), and through a testing program to determine your best usefulness, the Navy assigned him to their “state-of-the-art” computer facility. It was the early stages of computing. The public was not told much about what the military was doing with computers, but they were the leaders at this time—not IBM, in advanced use of the technology. That only meant that they had advanced further in sorting and counting.

Even then, there was a great deal of concern that “machines” would take over decision making from humans. In fact, they were working on just that. Leaping forward some seventy years and you can imagine what is going on now. Maybe it’s good or maybe it’s bad; but it is inevitable that the ability to make decisions within seconds based on a massive amount of data is the skill machines excel at, while humans often pause. That pause is the difference between surviving and dying in the scenarios the military studies. Thus, General Buck is no longer the best decision maker it’s AI.

I once requested an image of lizards in the desert from AI and one of the lizards had a leg coming out its head—a glitch. Not a big deal. Oops, was that missile just launched – “who ordered that?”—no one answers.

“Manners are important” Mom

Don’t you wonder why the mood of the country is so bad? I do. Sure, our political divide feels lousy, but is it so different? I know the language is different, but we’ve always had strong opinions voiced in many ways. The threat of violence feels closer to the surface, although it doesn’t seem to be well organized.

Politics feels like the result of groups angry about other groups, the real unhappiness is something else. We’ve seemed to have lost the belief that “things” will be better. That might be because for many people they are not. Young people in particular look around and see a bunch of old rich people arguing about nothing—they are just angry. Why are they angry—looks like it’s worked out pretty good for them.

We have become a country that does not value manners. Rude is not a fault, it’s almost a desirable talent. Soon we may have programs available for the less rude to learn how to be obnoxious. You really can’t fault the people who are being rude—it’s working for them. The people at fault are the ones who follow the loudest, most offensive person in the room.

Politicians used to brag about our country and its great citizens, now they condemn the horrible rotten place and accuse half the country of being evil. Wow, who would have ever thought that would happen—and be successful?

Poll after poll indicates that Americans want the ugly, divisive, hate-filled speeches to stop. If politicians believe in anything, it is polls. So why, if the polls say you should be more civil, does it not happen?

Because most of that dissatisfaction with the ugly narratives is only towards the other side. My side is totally justified in its bitter speech because…. well, just because.

My mother was a wise and thoughtful person. Of course, I seldom followed her wise advice; but at some level I always listened to her. Manners were an important part of her world. If you want to live in a civil world, then you need to be civil yourself. She often suggested that I could not control “Johnny’s” behavior (Johnny and Donny were my childhood nemeses), you can only control your own behavior. And if you are polite and considerate, maybe they will follow your lead.

That sounded good in theory, but I knew Johnny and Donny and knew the most likely outcome of me being nice and polite was a punch in the nose. Not saying my mother was wrong only that some people are just difficult.

The vitriol we are experiencing in our political debates is not based on the desire of the people it is supposedly being addressed to, it is the result of bad manners by the people using vulgar language because it is what they see in the world. It’s not about you, it is only about Johnny and Donny—we are just caught in the downdraft.

I never really worked out my childhood trauma of living in the neighborhood with Johnny and Donny; but I learned that as an adult I should choose my friends and acquaintances with extreme care. The obnoxious people need to be mentally shoved into another room (or world) and forgotten.

As voters we need to be very cautious about rewarding behavior we dislike. It will become the standard before you know it.

Respect for Others

Both of my parents, T.D. and Ruby, grew up on farms in Oklahoma. Mother in Perkins, father in Sapulpa. Their experiences were not the same. Ruby’s life was on a traditional farm with a large family, T.D.’s situation was more unsettled. During that time rural areas were isolated due to difficulty in traveling and poor to non-existent communication. What developed was a social and economic structure in small towns that was very similar to larger communities.

My mother worked in a department store that provided goods and services to town residents and area farmers. While the store was much smaller than you would find in larger cities, it was a central point of identity for Perkins. Almost everyone in the area shopped at the store, which might have been Perkins Dry Goods, but I don’t recall the name.

Ruby described her experiences as wonderful and exciting. She probably was just glad to not be working “the farm” with its many on-going unpleasant tasks. She would dress in what would now be called a uniform, a stiff starched white blouse, and a dark long skirt. Not so different than what the women working in the distant John A. Brown’s Department Store wore in Oklahoma City.

Her environment in this small town was secure, comfortable, and isolated. It was the 1930s with difficult times for most, but her family’s farm was productive, and her parents were progressive allowing her to work outside of the home.

What they knew about big cities often sounded like a place to avoid. Of course, they also recognized that the future, when things got better, would most likely be in the cities. At the time small towns and big cities benefited one another.

What happened to make our circumstances today so different? Obviously, most small farms are gone. If you look at the history of many families, they were farmers. These were farms that mostly supported the needs of the family. In 1935, there were 6.8 million small farms with a possible 40 million living on those farms out of a total U.S. population of 127 million or 32% of the total population; today there are 1.8 million small farms with maybe 7 million people out of the U.S. population of 340 million or 2 percent. The small towns no longer have the small farms and their families to provide them with the economic energy to succeed.

The other factor that has made the rural versus cities divide so large is the demise of the small businesses that used to provide the identity to towns and the backbone of local business owners who supported local government. It was those local business owners who gave the town an ongoing identity and kept the town growing by demanding better schools, roads, and services. They provided jobs and helped establish a sense of pride toward your town. The customers were absorbed by the large national chains or internet shopping. No farmers, no customers equal no back-bone community supporting businesspeople.

Does that mean that soon the whole country will be only cities, of course not. The small towns will survive to one degree or another, but the people will become even more isolated and bitter about their circumstances, unless things change.

The change could be simple. Most people live in big cities because of work. Remote work exists today on a small scale—mostly city dwellers who work out of their suburb homes rather than traveling to the city core. If that model could be expanded to allow population shifts from city areas to rural areas with support services following, it would change everything for small towns. Which in turn would help relieve the pressing problem of housing costs.

This solution has been discussed and prophesized for some time; it appears this might be a reality soon.

The big question in the minds of rural people might be, is that a good thing? They currently identify most city people as demanding, obnoxious assholes based on TV and possibly personal experiences. Will we move the big city problems to every small town with cheap land?

I personally think there is a major shift coming, whether that is good will depend on the people; can we learn to be respectful, to be aware of others, to be appreciative and less demanding—hard to say; my bet would be no.

Keep in mind I predicted the Nuggets would win their second championship.

War and Prose

Recently I speculated that my father’s mother might have been a native American. That was not based on anything factual but only on my own memories and assumptions. I was wrong. After I wrote that, I decided to investigate—using the internet’s vast resources.

I can now trace her linage back to England, not a mention of any native American connections. Of course, that could also be wrong, but it is supported by documents and seems to be accurate within the limits of my short-term investigation.

What does that mean? Probably nothing. It does not change anything regarding my memories or impact any claim that has anything to do with reality. I was a teenager when my grandmother died. I only had a few memories of her, and this bit of data does not change those at all.

What it would change is my statement of a heritage that would explain my affinity towards Native American images. Well, that now can be explained simply; I like ‘em. Even if my heritage is English, Irish or something else—I like those bold, expressive images. (Although, those English family crests are not so bad!)

What was intriguing was all the last names going back just four generations: Hall, Pinkston, Hendrix, Combs, Morrow, Griffith, Glidewell, Howard, Kea, Young, Hamby, Cannaday and the next generation will add ten more.

My good friend (and relative), Stanley Nelson, provided me with some gentle corrections to my last post. He points out, accurately, that the tribes in Oklahoma were caught in a no-win situation with the increasingly difficult decision to pick a side in the hostile debate about slavery.

“Concerning the Civil War: the best historical evidence makes clear that leaders of each of the Five Tribes were recruited into the Confederacy via the “Godfather” method: either your brains or your signature will be on the declaration of alliance that marauding Secessionists from Texas had set down before you. The tribes had little choice because the Union had completely abandoned them, emptying its forts of troops and supplies, even after consenting with tribal leaders to leave helpful items like ammunition.”

Like almost all matters, the simplest explanation often loses the nuances that help us understand what occurred. I’m thankful to Stan for his better explanation of the circumstances behind the Choctaw Nations agreement with the Confederacy. He also provided me with an article by Zachery Cowsert appearing in “The Chronicles of Oklahoma” which covers in much more detail (yes, it is a few pages) this time leading up to the decision for the Choctaw Nation to sign their agreement with the Confederacy– which is attached to this post.

Why do we care about this obscured history? Could be most don’t, but I find it intriguing. Of course, this is research for my latest book, so it would be more important to me. I do think one reason to care about history is to appreciate the complications that drive all historical facts. Too often we are presented with a simple black and white version of history that ignores the more subtle underlining reasons certain things occurred.

Our history is very much like our present time. We know the simple, this is right and that is wrong, approach will often ignore the in-between solution, which breeds conflict. History, if we examine it in detail, will guide us to a better solution in the present.

My fiction writing does not require any examination of history. In most of my books there was no research needed. For this historical account of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s, it is vitally important—because if I don’t get it right, I will likely receive some not so gentle corrections from Stan.

It’s been almost 4 years since I published a book. Some of that time was, of course, not good for anyone; my issues were health and a lack of interest. The lack of interest was due to declining sales of my older books (it happens to most authors—no new books and you are soon forgotten) and the writing was taking increasingly greater effort.

Writing is work. I know that there are writers who can write a book a day (or so it seems), that is not my case. The fastest I completed a book was about 4 months but that was unusual, mine are normally much longer. The work part is when it is not going smoothly. If you hit a rough spot in the story and are having trouble writing through it—that’s when you will abandon the whole book. That’s what happened to me. Four times, four different books.

Now will I finish something? I don’t know. But I am writing again and that is what fixes the issue. This blog represents that need to write to be able to write. So sorry, but this is practice writing, I hope it isn’t a burden.

2016-v94-n02_COO_Cowsert Download

Facts and Fiction

I write fiction. Often those stories require research to develop background related to the times, or location or some event. The research today is easy, although still time consuming. I do remember the day when research involved untold hours in public libraries tracking down that vital piece of information that made the story come alive. I confess, I loved the library time. Being in a library was comforting. I felt surrounded by humanity at its best.

While I miss the environment of the library, I sure don’t miss the limitations. The amount of information available at my fingertips sitting in my cluttered, but comfortable, office is just amazing.

I’ve had four projects going at once for years. This struggle to complete one of them is on-going. My current efforts are focused on completing the first book of a cozy mystery series Mr. and Mrs. Sims. This is about a newlywed couple who moved to southeastern Oklahoma, which at one time was the Choctaw Nation, in the 1920s as representatives of Oklahoma A&M college. The husband has a unique background, not only in agriculture, but in criminology—an entirely new field of study regarding the psychology of criminals as well as the science of solving crimes.

In 2022, I had these same four books as work-in-progress, and for reasons I can’t remember, decided I wanted to make them into audio dramas. I have no background for this but what the hell, probably nobody would listen to them anyway.

The two series that ended up with something in this area were the Mr. and Mrs. Sims Mystery and Vegas Dead End, which is an extension of my Pacheco and Chino Mystery Book series. You can sample Vegas Dead End here.

Note: I have not finished Vegas Dead End (book or audio drama)—so the name is very appropriate.

As part of my research for Mr. and Mrs. Sims, I’ve examined many sources and documents related to the Choctaw Nation. One that was particularly interesting to me was the Constitution of the Choctaw Nation written in January 1860. It was interesting because of our bias towards Native Americans. This constitution follows the model of the United States constitution but is done in a straightforward, no-nonsense style. I do not know the parties who wrote it, or the circumstances that caused it to be written (need more research), but I was struck by how succinctly the document stated the matters at hand.

At this point in time (1860) it is clear this document’s intent was something entirely different than what occurred for the Choctaw Nation as a separate, distinct, legal, and independent nation. The real intent may have been hidden at the time, or something changed.

Obviously, the big change was the civil war. The Choctaw Nation had signed an agreement with the Confederate States of American that in essence made them allies. When the war ended with the Confederacy defeated, so was the Choctaw Nation. The US government, apparently, then considered all previous agreements null and void.

The tone and words of the Choctaw Nation constitution in 1860 said one thing, but in only a few years, there was a different reality.

That different reality is part of my story about this same area, now the state of Oklahoma, in the 1920s. As a crime, supposedly committed by a Choctaw man, brings my character Ed Sims to Durant, Oklahoma, to talk to the Chief of the now subdued Choctaw Nation.

As I said, I write fiction. If any of my research discloses a reality that interferes with my story, I just ignore it—fiction writers can just make stuff up—it’s allowed. Sometimes the real story is more interesting than the made up one, but the real story takes a lot more work; so, I will stick with fiction.

In case you’re curious, I’ve attached the 1860 Choctaw Nation Constitution.

1860constitution Download

Fish Out of Water

One of my real talents is beginning things. The initial idea on any subject immediately attracts my attention. ‘In the works’ projects are pushed aside as the new idea lights up– beaming and alluring. Combining this questionable beginning skill with my diverse range of interests has created an interesting hodge-podge of results.

This tendency is very evident in my business career. I won’t list the jobs I’ve had, but it’s quite a few and diverse. The real informative mix is in business ventures. I owned ice cream stores, a concession operation, and shoe stores before I was thirty. They were formed, fed, and managed with an on-going eye towards innovation—many of those ideas did not work out so well. I had some success, nothing huge, but I learned a lot. Now what I describe as innovation someone else might say was a lack of focus and jumping from one thing to another. I won’t argue that, but to me it seemed to be inspired innovation. From there I have owned a printing business, real estate development company, BBQ concession stand, CPA practice, consulting practice, and an M&A advisory business. A couple of those were disasters, some were okay. That leaves out the ideas that never became a reality and buries in the mud a few that did.

A large portion of my diverse focus was on creative activities. Painting, acrylic and watercolor, wood sculpting, digital art and, of course, writing.

I think you can see that talent I mentioned in beginning things; what I may lack is an ability to finish. Admitting a need for diversity is more an excuse for jumping around than a real explanation. I’ve completed 14 books, but it was an effort—not to start, but to finish. Currently, I have 4 books in progress. They are at various stages of completion. That is the same status they have been over the last few years. Almost every day I have a new good idea for a book, that’s the easy part. What is hard, at least for me, is finishing those “old” good ideas.

Because it is my weakness, I admire people who can focus on one thing and finish it without jumping around testing new ideas. Maybe it’s a cluttered mind, or a lack of concentration; but I’m the happiest with several things going on at once.

One of those ‘in the works’ projects was a book with the working title of “Mr. and Mrs. Sims”. The story takes place in rural Oklahoma (Indian Territory) in the 1920s. Hugo, Oklahoma to be exact. I had been doing some research for a different story (I see a pattern) which had a connection to Oklahoma when I discovered the Newspapers.com website. This is a site with digital files of old newspapers for most areas of the country. I found a huge number of newspapers from rural areas including Oklahoma with amazing articles. Crime and agriculture were prominent in almost every edition. This distraction led me to the Sims idea.

Mr. Sims is one of the first people to have graduated with a degree in the new fields of study; criminology and sociology. At that point in time there was no demand for that knowledge in law enforcement, so he had also gotten a degree in agriculture at Oklahoma State University. He and his wife have been sent to Hugo to establish an agriculture extension service supported by the school. Of course, as you would guess, he becomes involved in solving crimes.

This crime solving employs all the new ideas, such as autopsies, dental analysis and bite patterns, eyewitness testimony, fingerprinting, foot molds, footwear identification, handwriting analysis, weapons identification and analysis, and the gathering of evidence at a crime scene.

It’s a fish out of water story with Mr. Sims butting heads with Sheriffs and most everyone who thinks he should stick to seeds and not crime solving.

I thought the story was a great idea but have had trouble finishing. I’m currently writing on this book again–I think I see the finish. Each of my unfinished books has a problem that I’ve had trouble solving. Under those circumstances my first option is usually to start a new venture. Oh, wait; I’ve got a great idea!

However, with the Sims story I believe I solved the problem. It was always about writing. If you stop, you have trouble starting again–the trick is; don’t stop.

Art and Power

Every day the tech world makes life easier and more confusing. Do any of us really know how this stuff works? We cannot exist without a functioning internet. At alarming speed, the basic needs for human existence are food, water, shelter and now electricity.

Sure, electric power has been a human need since the days of Benjamin Franklin, but with the internet it is a vital necessity that would leave us lifeless if it was cut-off. Whether that is good or bad or somewhere in between is not relevant. The relevant point is that few of us have considered the risk of losing access to electricity.

One of my “side-hustles” is advising companies in the electric infrastructure industry. My advice is financial and has nothing to do with their work. As a result of that connection, I have a feeling that the whole system is vulnerable. This is not news. Most people with any knowledge recognize the great vulnerability of the electric grid system. It’s not terrorists, although the system is not well protected, mostly it is the overall age of the total infrastructure.

In the 1950s government thinkers (no that is not an oxymoron) decided the largest vulnerability for USA security and commerce was a poor highway system that traversed the country. From those first thoughts huge amounts of money were spent on designing and building the interstate highway system. That system may have changed the country as much as anything that has ever been done.

The same approach needs to be focused on our electrical distribution system. My layman’s advice has been to focus on small units of energy production and improved storage of power. I won’t go into the details, because they are boring—but believe me this is a big problem that needs attention.

In the fourth grade Miss Smith told me I was the best artist in her class. I was a little bit surprised but immediately believed her, after all she was the teacher. From that point up to my initial year in college I thought of myself as an artist. An artist who didn’t produce much but none the less; I was an artist—ask Miss Smith.

I enrolled in college and was immediately told I had to have a major. I tried to tell them I was only avoiding the draft and was not really interested in much and for sure had no idea about a major. They insisted. So, I became an art major. Of course, that meant I needed to take some art classes. I enrolled in art appreciation (how hard could that be?) and a drawing class. After reviewing the supply list for the drawing class, which was going to cost me a month’s rent (which wasn’t all that much) I was considering dropping the course.

I didn’t drop the class and after only a few weeks wished that I had. The instructor was never going to be my buddy. He yelled at people, me included, about artistic sense and how many of us were obviously not in the right class. He acted offended that we were not better at what we were studying to be better at. It was a personal affront to his whole being that he had to be around such talentless ingrates. After a few weeks of this haranguing, I was giving thought to enlisting.

Around the third week, Mr. “I’m So Wonderful” art instructor had to leave school due to some emergency that was never explained. He was replaced by an older woman who looked lost, scared, and usually didn’t show up for the classes.

Several people in the class gave me good advice and were instrumental in my becoming a better artist, although I’m sure Mr. I.S. Wonderful would still have given me an F. Despite Miss Smith’s opinion, that unpleasant experience was probably the first time I was a “real” artist. If you are required to suffer to become an artist, I was now in the club.

Aliens are Just Like You and Me?

Neighbors having a friendly chat

Alien invasion in the form of balloons or metallic cylinders floating in the sky? Not likely. Its just strange human behavior based on fear of other humans. If Aliens were probing our planet from planets close to our system, we would know about them. Unless they lived totally hidden on their nearby planet so we couldn’t see or smell them. (Smell?)

Maybe they are from planets very far away in a different solar system? Now this incredibly advanced society is sending balloon like things to float around our air space. Nah, not likely. That advanced civilization has no doubt been monitoring our activity for thousands of years and sees no value in making contact. Those earthlings still can’t get along with their neighbors much less a different species.

That could be the biggest advantage of an Alien invasion—we might actually look around and realize that we are all human beings and very much alike. It might even be possible that we could join up to defend “our” planet.

The reality is human beings think other humans are different. If you’re Chinese, you are different than Americans. If you live in California, you are different than Texans. What nonsense. Generally, our leaders emphasize the differences. The truth is that a family in China has about the same concerns, worries, and hopes as a family in Texas. They worry about money, their health, their family’s future, the stability of competing countries, and happiness. Priorities are births, weddings, operations, funerals, graduations, hugs, laughter, family history, peace, and other smaller things that really matter.

Too often our leaders are people who seem paranoid, overly aggressive, self-centered, power-hungry, war mongers and totally out of touch with what is really important. Other countries leaders seem to follow that pattern. Now some of these people just took power, but many are elected—we picked them.

Why do we pick leaders who seem eager to punch somebody in the face. We think they will protect us. To protect ourselves from outside bullies, we elect bullies. Strongmen to defend against strongmen. My guess would be all of those strongmen are really weak, insecure men who will attack because they don’t know what else to do. (Keep in mind men also equals women—these leadership qualities seem to ignore gender)

We have known this for thousands of years—if we could get along better, life would improve for all of us. Generally, our leaders have seen that goal as one based on total domination. As your leader I will conquer the world and make everyone live like we live—then things will be better. And if they do not want to live like we live, we will destroy them. Let’s take the “humanity” out of human beings.

I have little hope we will ever be able to see the commonness in all of us. If I can only identify with the people who live in my small suburb of Denver, how will we ever unite the entire planet. We won’t. We will continue to fight because we feel threatened. I’m going to punch you before you punch me. I will win and then you will have to live like me. Hallelujah!

The only path that would seem to work is if we could celebrate differences. Humans seem to have the ability to identify the smallest differences in fellow humans and will segregate into groups based on those slight similarities. That means the slight differences are emphasized and shunned. And yet, if we will look at the group that is the most important to most of us, the family, we will see all sorts of differences that we overlook. Within our small group we absorb the differences as nothing and see the commonness. Why can’t we expand that to everyone?

It’s possible that it will take the Alien invasion in the monster spaceship hovering over the entire state of Wyoming before we can come together and unite. Threats have always had a significant influence in our behaviors—if we don’t have enemies, we find some.

Grandma’s Farm

I’ve always lived in a city. Some large, some small but I never lived in what might be called a rural area. My grandparents on both sides of my family lived in rural Oklahoma. My parents moved from their rural homes just before WWII to take jobs in the “big” city. This was the normal pattern during that time as there was huge demand for labor in larger towns.

Neither of my parents ever romanticized the life they had left on the “farm”, it was difficult and full of hard labor. Both of my grandparents had small farms—they barely provided for their immediate family. My mother and father had started working off of the farm long before they left—this was their desire, and it helped their family by bringing in other income.

My mother was a very feminine “girl” and there is no doubt in my mind that hands-on farm labor would not be something she would have done. My father joined his father in the hauling business working in the oil fields—they were often gone from the farm—it was run by my grandmother. Making a “living” was the only thing the farm represented—it didn’t mean it was wrong to make a living in some other way, just because you grew up on a farm.

My grandparents wanted their kids to leave the farm and seek a “better” life. Small farmers knew it was a tough, thankless life, full of hardships and many tragedies.

Today many rural people, often not farmers, are angry about their lives and how they have been ignored or even mistreated by city people and government. I’m sure much of this is the overall change in our society that has over emphasized high-tech’s dominance in communication, young over-achievers, and some rather in-your-face entertainment trends. All those trends have deemphasized the contributions by rural communities. While that can feel like some sort of evil plot, I would guess it is just a numbers game; the rural communities just do not represent a substantial market for companies to sell things to.

The majority of those big city people will have some connection in their family tree to the rural life and I would be surprised if those people would belittle people who still farm for a living or live in small towns.

What is really causing this “rural vs city” division along political lines? There are thousands, if not millions, of people who could answer that question better than me—but I won’t let that stop me. My opinion isn’t based on extensive research, just a gut feeling.

It’s about the future. Small towns have declined. Small businesses have closed, and those businesspeople are no longer engaged in promoting the town and being positive about the future. Farmers have occupied most of the rural land, but the non-farmer population of small towns has always been larger in numbers than the farmers. Now many of those people have gone. This decline has been going on for a long time, with little interest from national political leaders.

One of my grandparents lived in Perkins, Oklahoma. When my parents and I would visit, part of the trip was to go “downtown” and have ice cream or (my favorite) to visit a small farm on the edge of town and buy eggs. Everywhere we went, we were all the same people. The ice cream shop owner and the small egg farmer were most pleased to see us, knew us and our connection to the town. To them we were a customer and (at least it seemed that way) friends.

My mother took me to the department store downtown where she used to work and introduced me to the store’s owner. At that time these small towns still had active commerce besides farming. The community was alive and well. The mood during this time (late 1950s) was positive. The future looked bright. By the 1970s much of that promise had gone. Farmers were still farming but the support structure in the small towns had changed. The community of businesspeople had almost gone away.

The future of those small towns looked very bleak. Most of the young people couldn’t wait to leave. Without hope of a better future, almost all of us would turn bitter and look for people to blame.

Government cannot solve all the problems facing humans. But Governments have a role to play in the betterment of their citizen’s lives. I believe the current administration has made a great attempt to make lives better in rural America. Most of this has been ignored. It’s not flashy, and if you’re on the other team, you no doubt don’t believe it or think it’s just bullshit political talk.

I don’t believe Democrat’s should always be in power, but this American Rescue Plan (infrastructure) legislation should have gotten a lot more noise than it did and should be celebrated by everyone. The plan is heavily targeted to rural areas. A Democratic plan (supported by a small but significant number of Republicans) that spends billions in rural America (currently heavily Republican rural America). A plan to benefit your opponent’s supporters? I think most of rural America either does not know about the details of this plan or just don’t believe it.

I’m sure many people who think this will amount to nothing believe the money will be spent on something else and only rack up more debt. As always things can go wrong, but this looks like a major commitment to revitalize a large part of the country and, if it goes as planned, will restore hope to millions.

One of the problems with this type of legislation—it takes a long time to see results. Some of the results are more immediate but the actual spending on many of the projects won’t happen until 2026. Wow, politicians put in place a plan to take the time to spend money wisely, and by the time the results are seen, they most likely will be out of office. Not sure I believe they did that either.

Everyone should take a look at the FACT SHEET regarding this amazing plan.

I believe in many ways the future of the USA is going to be driven by rural America. Big cities have their advantages and their disadvantages—soon we are going to start to see with the benefit of technology the increased strengths of rural towns. Everyone should be proud of this development.

There is no doubt we can disagree about debt, taxes, the role of government, and a long list of social issues; but somewhere in our heart we do need to care for one another—even if we must hide it.

I will still live in a big city, but it would be great to soon visit a revitalized Perkins and talk shop with the egg guy.

Mistakes, Successes, the Future

My first book was published about 14 years ago. It was not great, maybe not even good, but I liked the story. It was a complete failure. At the time, I debated about ever writing again. My goal had been to write a book because of some stupid idea that I could be a success. That success was going to happen by magic. I would be found and hailed as the greatest thing since “something or another”. So having experienced failure, the most sensible thing to do was quit.

I did for a while. During that time, I also thought about what had gone wrong. Eventually I convinced myself that my failure was due to me not understanding how to create my own success. I had to invest time (and money) into becoming a better writer, a better book manager, a better marketer, a better –well you get the idea. I was the problem.

Five years passed before I released my next book. I experienced success. Yes, success! That was because I was now measuring success in a whole new light. Compared to my first absolute failure this book was a huge success. I was elated. I immediately started the second book (which is really the third, but I don’t count the first one—little history rewrite).

As of today, I have written fourteen books. Don’t be shocked, but I liked them all. I hope to publish a few more before I give up, but the fourteen are an accomplishment that I am proud of, even if the success money truck has never arrived. My books have been read by thousands of people and received great reviews. In many, many ways I’m a successful author.

And yet. Yes, and yet I’m still not pleased. This may have something to do with the first book, the very first book. I abruptly ended that book as I became discouraged with the amount of time it was taking to finish. When I was writing that book, I was also involved in very stressful and time-consuming business activities. Everything started piling on, so I ended the book suddenly. Here we are going along on this story and bam—THE END.

Giving thought to going back and redoing the ending in a more thoughtful way. But why do that? I know it makes no sense, why not write something new, more interesting, and fresher. Why dwell on the past mistakes. It feels like something I did not do well, and that there is value in correcting that little misstep at the beginning of my writing venture.

On the other hand, I’ve got four great books almost ready to be born.

Doctor Hightower. This is a few weeks away from being completed. Some of you have read parts of this book as an Amazon Vella serialized story. Also, about half of the first part is about ready to release as an audio drama. Those few weeks are being held up due to a decision I must make. Is this a one and done book—if so, it will have a certain kind of ending—or is this an on-going series, with an entirely different ending. I’m leaning towards a one and done.

Mr. & Mrs. Sims. This is a cozy mystery that I’m having a ton of fun writing. This story takes place in rural Oklahoma in the 1920’s. Mr. Sims is a frustrated criminologist working as an ag agent out of Hugo, Oklahoma. Mrs. Sims is the Home Demonstration Agent in the three counties around Hugo. As her husband becomes more and more involved in solving crimes and becoming Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Sims, always supportive of her husband, starts to act like Dr. Watson. This is also soon to be an audio drama and very soon a book. Writing this book with my wife, Marilyn.

Tumbleweed Mystery #2. Marilyn and I are putting together ideas on the second Tumbleweed story. This story will feature more adventures in Cactus City with kids. This is a middle grade book and will involve all sorts of intrigue from the 1950s. The Skytrain movie theatre becomes a central part of an adventure involving the Air Police, the atomic bomb, scary Generals, and kids not sure what they have found.

Chino & Tonto, Vegas Dead End/RV Adventures. A continuation of the Pacheco and Chino series which will feature Tyee Chino and his new dog Tonto. Still a gritty PI/murder mystery type book but with Tyee and Tonto traveling around the US helping Apache Tribe members who are accused of various crimes. These books will begin as an audio series which is fast approaching completion.

The more I’ve thought about it, I’ve decided I should let the past be. Going back and trying to fix mistakes is a waste of time—move on and make new ones.