Irrepressibly True Tales

One man's squint at the metaphorical signposts, songbirds, soapboxes, street musicians, and hot dog stands of life. Criticism, lyricism, polemics, performance, and making change…all with mustard.

A House Cat Murdered My Wife…That’s My Story

Treswick was a big cat, a bad cat. He was, his owners averred, tres wicked.

It was 1967. I was a first-year graduate student living in Peabody Terrace, the married students’ housing, a walking bridge across the river from Harvard Business School. These were tall, narrow buildings, four units to a floor, all sharing a long narrow balcony that looked east over the Charles River toward Boston. We had the uppermost balcony, a twentieth-floor apartment. When the weather was warm, all four apartments might be open to the balcony, on which rested only two heavy chairs, the frequent strong winds making predictable patio furniture a hazard to ground dwellers.

Treswick lived two apartments away and often walked the parapets, pacing the railing, three feet down on one side, 200 on the other. One evening, Continue reading “A House Cat Murdered My Wife…That’s My Story”

Bank of America’s Bad Marketing

Do they even come close to knowing what’s going on?

Today I mailed the letter below to Barbara Desoer, President of Bank of America Home Loans, in Charlotte, NC. According to Money magazine, she received $9.6 million in compensation in  2007, and was one of the 25 highest-paid women in America.

Dear Barbara:

I begin this letter with an intimate salutation, taking a cue from the letter I received from you today, addressed to me and my wife (Stephen and Ann).

I, a Bank of America retiree, was intrigued by the outside of the bright red envelope that contained your letter. “Welcome to Bank of America/Look inside for your new opportunities” it said. At first I thought it had something to do Continue reading “Bank of America’s Bad Marketing”

The Future of Book Marketing?

Movies have previews. Why not books?

Yesterday, the Avon Books division of HarperCollins Publishers released a short promo video for Julia Quinn‘s soon-to-be-released novel, What Happens in London. The promo is so professionally done, I would probably have commented on it even if best-selling novelist Quinn (her last book hit #1 on The New York Times list) were not my daughter.

Ms. Quinn wrote the script. The young actress is Talia Gottlieb, a college senior who grew up in Kenya, the child of international aid workers. Ms. Gottlieb, who auditioned for the part at Ms. Quinn’s suggestion, beat out the other performers based upon her obvious-to-all-who-watch talents…not because she happens to be Ms. Quinn’s second cousin, once removed and my first cousin, twice removed. (Confusing, huh? For a consanguinity chart, click here.)

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For more about the how and who of the promo, click here.

Lieberman and Specter: Whom Do You Love?

Can your personal political morality stand the fairness test?

Compare Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter. Each abandoned his party in order to assure or improve his chance of winning re-election. Pragmatic?  Egomaniacal? Fighting the neverending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way?

Whom do you love?

Lieberman, 67, lifted high by the Democratic party (vice presidential candidate in 2000, winner of Continue reading “Lieberman and Specter: Whom Do You Love?”

Swine Flu Hype

How close are we to Armageddon?

Is the eleventh Plague upon us?

Blood, Frogs, Gnats, Death to Livestock, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Slaying of the Firstborn…and now H1N1 swine flu?

Is this the return of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 during which about 50 million people died?

Assess swine flu this way: according to the Center for Disease Control each year in the United States, on average, 5% to 20% of the population get the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications; and about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes. That’s 100 deaths each day. So far one U.S. death has been recorded from swine flu. And research indicates the H1N1 strain is no more virulent than the typical yearly flu. Continue reading “Swine Flu Hype”