Live the Dash

1
Into the Abyss

Last night [2012-10-22] I watched Werner Herzog's riveting Into the Abyss, a documentary account of a triple murder in Conroe, Texas and the subsequent execution of one of the accused killers.

The former Death House Captain, Fred Allen, who was in charge of the team that strapped down the condemned, talked at some length about the execution of Karla Faye Tucker and his role in it. (He participated in 125 executions and resigned after that, forfeiting his pension, because the toll had simply become too great to bear any more.)

The "dash," BTW, is everything that appears between the date of birth and date of death on your tombstone. It's a metaphor for life.

I remember the Karla Faye execution in 1998 well ( read more > ). It was the first execution I opposed along the development of my sensibilities regarding life and death (which are still developing). I didn't oppose it because Karla Faye found Jesus and deserved to be spared (everyone on Death Row finds Jesus[1]), but because by all accounts of those that knew her, the person being executed was not the same one who committed the crime.

If ever there was a defense of mercy for those that repent and reform, Karla Faye was it.

And we killed her.

And then-governor George W Bush, who denied her clemency, would later smirk and joke about it (source > ).[2]

Learn more about Into the Abyss here >

[2012-10-23]

2
They say you can tell a lot about a person by his bookshelf.

This is mine:

Well, it's not a shelf so much, but a collection with bookends. I used to have a lot of book shelves, built into the wall of my study in my previous home. I dreamed of one day handing over thousands of volumes I'd read and studied to someone who wanted to care for them. But since I was a student of more classical periods that have long since fallen into the public domain, the digital age made paper books unnecessary, and so I have saved only those that have sentimental or financial value. There are more elsewhere in the house, but Capote was such an enormous influence on me, his books (and those related to him) have a special place on my desk.

The bookends are onyx and came from Millcreek Mall in Erie, PA back in the 1970's. There was a fellow selling Mexican onyx at a kiosk; he also sold chess sets, tikis, jewelry, and such. These bookends were actually a gif to Tom from Mom and Dad for Christmas, but somehow they wound up with me. I got a pair too, they were green. I don't know what happened to them. I bought  a green onyx chess set at the time from the same kiosk, very pretty but very impractical. It chipped and broke easily.

[2012-10-24]

c0

[1]
Is that surprising? No. Is that bad? No. Dire circumstances have a way of refining our perspective.

[2]
Mr Bush went on to renew the war in Iraq that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and not a few Americans.

Over nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.

If Americans had paid attention to the levity with which the governor had dismissed Tucker's execution, this world might be shy one war right now.

c0