On the top is my house on Redwood Lane, Key Biscayne, Fourth of July 1961. We were among the first families to build on the Key. This is one of the legendary Mackle Company homes, that cost around $5,000 via the GI Bill for vets of WWII and the Korean War. (These are selling for a million now.) All the fathers when I was a kid, were WWII vets. This was an awesome house. You might think, why be upset, because this house is simple and old. 

You might think that, but you would be wrong. On the bottom is the monstrosity that was built in the same place, in 2007. Apparently, some wealthy developer bought the old house only for the purpose of tearing it down, to build a monstrosity in the same space, and sell it for millions. The house on the bottom sits squeezed in the same lot, with no yard, except in the front, a Mackle home on either side. It towers over the other homes, destroying privacy, it has a Spanish-tile roof, that can blow off and be deadly during a hurricane, and numerous windows with strange curves and shapes, that will be impossible to cover during the next big storm. I have no sympathy for the current chumps owners, because I’m vindictive and pissed off and mean. 

You may think, wow what a nice mansion. I think, those SOBs tore down my house, and built a chintzy piece of elaborate crap that’ll be heavily damaged in the next Category-3, in a wonderful family neighborhood. And to be fair, it’s not the only old Mackle home (which have survived many hurricanes, because they were built to last) that has been razed for pure profit. On Redwood anyway, most of the other homes have been beautifully updated, expanded, but they are at core, the original houses. 

Yes, the mansion would be nice somewhere else, but it isn’t “somewhere else,” it’s sitting on my past and my memories. 

This is personal. I’m getting tired of this. Is there a video of the destruction of the old Miami Public Library in Bayfront Park? This is the 2005 implosion of the EVERGLADES HOTEL, where we stayed when we (my family and a host of others from Key Biscayne) evacuated the island during Hurricane Donna in 1960. I have distinct and incredible memories of staying in this hotel, the sound of the wind howling, the vibrations of the building as it shook with the gusts. I remember my father taping the hotel windows so they wouldn’t shatter in the upstairs rooms, and how we all had to move down to the lower floors as the hurricane became more violent. I ran around the place with a group of friends (I was 8 yrs old) and we were totally unafraid. I always figured this hotel was haunted. So goodbye, EVERGLADES HOTEL. Just another victim of “progress” in South Florida. 

There is much more to say, about the Coral Gables Bus Terminal, and my house on Key Biscayne, and Key Biscayne in general – turning a wonderful middle-class family community into an over-crowded, over-built enclave of 1-percenters. At least Key Biscayne Elementary is still there: expanded now to form the core of a community school complex. Google-Earth walking tour had me laughing out loud – I remembered every bit of the front of the two story building, and the exact route I took to walk there every school morning from 1958 to 1963. 

This picture makes me so happy. I have wanted Magneto and Rogue to get back together for 16 years. Mike Carey has tried his best in X-MEN LEGACY. But oh the screaming going on from a bunch of people who either want Rogue nailed permanently to Gambit like Geezus on the Cross, or want her to be some kind of pure babe only available for them in their wet-dreams. The Gagues and Magneto-haters scream like Blanche Barrow from “BONNY AND CLYDE” …

“aaaahhhaAAHHHHHHAHahhhhhhhhhhAHHHHHHahhhahhhaaaaahhhh”

… running around in circles with their hands flying in the air. They have their litany of misquotes and false correlations and twisted comics history to “prove” the Rogue and Magneto romance cannot be. And the funny thing is, yeah, Magnus has done some questionable and/or terrible things in his time, but the screamers never refer to what he’s actually done — instead they pull embroidered cloth from their rear ends. It’s hard to refute or argue with people who insist 2 + 2 = 5 and the sky is green. 

In any case, Marvel will give in to the screamers. And I’m childish enough to say, “It’s not fair!” Because I love Rogue and Magneto together. She makes him want to be, try to be, a better man. 

TO my two Honorable and Wonderful Senators from the State of West Virginia:  

H.R. 3 has to be one of the most unconstitutional acts passed by the House of Representatives in 100 years. The money a woman earns from her work, that is paid to the US Government as tax, that is refunded to her, is HER MONEY, to use as she likes.  

Number ONE, she should not have to justify anything she does with her money, in her life.  

Number TWO, for the House of Representatives to redefine rape, and “forcible rape” for the purposes of a tax audit is not only unconstitutional, it is brutal and disgusting.  

Number THREE, forcing women who are survivors of rape and incest to justify their survival, to defend themselves for what happened to them, is not only illegal but unethical; it is like having the US Government rape them all over again. It looks like a bunch of powerful men in Washington perpetuating a “gang rape” on American women.  

It shouldn’t even come to the point of the IRS asking a woman how she spends her refund, or uses her tax-payer status in her private life. But this bill is far more disgusting and insidiously evil than that – it becomes corrosively toxic through the “notes” or “comments” of intent of the legislators redefining “forcible rape” and “incset” as legal terms, setting up the redefinition in the courts. What kind of country do we live in? Are over 50% of the citizens of this country who are women, second-class? Are over 50% of the citizens of this country legally delineated by their sex only?  

TO my representatives in Washington, from the great state of West Virginia, Senators Rockefeller and Manchin, please do all you can to defeat this bill. Please do not let the GOP members of either chamber use such a foul bill to bargain about the Debt-Ceiling.  

And to my Democratic West Virginia representative in the Hosue of Representatives, Rep. Rahal, a Democrat in name only – I can only hope you are primaried by a true Democrat in 2012, because you are not going to get my vote, nor the votes of many Democrats in this state. I’d rather see a genuine Republican narrow-minded far-right crazy win the seat than see Rep. Rahal reelected at this point – at least he/she would be honest about where they stand.  

Sincerely,

Here is the link:  http://pol.moveon.org/noaudits/?id=27256-18768606-.m_f.rx&t=2

Dear MSNBC:  

Why did you preempt THE ED SHOW for this royal wedding garbage? What are you thinking? The people who watch MSNBC at this time, who watch THE ED SHOW have zero, I repeat zero interest in a “royal wedding.” In fact, I’d say most lefties and progressives are hostile the very idea of a ruling-class and royalty and find the whole wedding commotion offensive in the extreme.  

But nothing is more offensive to your viewers, and Ed Schultz’s viewers and fans, than to preempt *his* show in particular for this “royal wedding” piss.  

At this time, with all that’s happening nation-wide, and you do this to your MSNBC 10 pm viewers? You have got to be kidding me. No, no you’re not kidding me, you’re doing it.  

This is a huge mistake. I repeat, the viewers of this MSNBC network, of THE ED SHOW, are not interested in any “royal wedding.” Your core demographic could not be any less interested in a “royal wedding.”  

I love you guys, and I am still loyal to MSNBC. You have done a great job and your news organization and entire line-up of shows gets better and better. Your reporters and anchors are first-rate. But sometimes you do things that make me so angry, and leave me perplexed. With regards to preempting Ed Schultz for this “royal” garbage, I hate to say it to you, but with all due respect, *what a bunch of maroons.*  

All the Best

My Elephant Words story for the week is “Lizard Brains:  http://elephantwords.co.uk/2010/03/18/lizard-brains/

It’s not horror, and I apologize to anyone who likes to read my horror stories. Horror is a lot harder to write, in my opinion, but in general a family drama story is very complex and one needs to write the characters carefully.

My Elephant Words story for this week is “Displacement,” and it’s kind of dark and disturbing, so enjoy it if you can.  http://elephantwords.co.uk/2010/03/12/displacement/

My Elephant Words story for Saturday, March 6. “Glass Breaking.”http://elephantwords.co.uk/2010/03/06/glass-breaking/ I hope it’s a good read, and please let me know what you think. Thanks.

Here is my Elephant Words story for Monday, Februrary 22, “The Age of Ice.”

http://elephantwords.co.uk/2010/02/22/age-of-ice/

If you have a moment, please read, let me know what you think!

My latest Elephant Words story is “Alive.” Feedback would be welcome!

http://elephantwords.co.uk/2010/02/16/alive/