A year ago...January 20

A year ago today, I released issue #1 of M-Brane SF. It had been scheduled for February 1, but I felt like it was as ready to go as it ever would be. I just took a look at it, a year later. I am somewhat embarrassed by its technical ineptitudes (I was considerably less competent at the simple use of my computer back then), but not at all by its fiction content. It is as solid in that regard as most of the later issues, and a totally respectable debut for a new zine. Also, #1 was the first time that I published some writers with whom I've had ongoing productive associations such as Rick Novy, (published several more times in the zine, and guest editor of #12), and Brandon Bell whom I have also published several times and with whom I now collaborate on the Aether Age project. It feels like a lot longer ago than a year. In that time, I have learned, a lot has changed, a lot has happened. And I'm still here doing the zine a year later, so I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back for that, too. Several other publications that started around the time that M-Brane did are already gone. I don't know if making through one year, means I'll make it through a second year, but I strongly suspect that I will, and that it will be a better year, too.

A year ago today, President Obama's term began. This gave me some hope for the country, and still does despite some disappointments and setbacks since then. This presidency is probably the country's one chance in a generation or more to make some real progressive reforms and get to work on the deep-down problems that will wreck this country. The place is falling apart. It's not just the heath system or any of the other issues that people get crazy about. It's the whole infrastructure of America. It's getting rickety, and just waiting for something to happen isn't going to fix it. This is a time for a World War II-type remobilization and redirection of resources and ingenuity. Obama laid some groundwork for it in the stimulus package and his budget outline, but much more is needed. If none of this gets moving and progress stalls out again, and if the Teabaggers take over, then we've lost a world of opportunities for a long, long time to come. 

A year ago today, we also celebrated the twelfth birthday of my cat Maus. So today he's thirteen. Though he's getting to be an older cat now, he remains quite energetic and continues to direct our routines. Tonight, for example, I will probably doze on the couch. Later, Maus will wake me up, herd me into the bedroom and cuddle into bed with me. Then, just a few minutes before my alarm would wake me up anyway…he will. He'll observe as I get ready for the day job, see me out the door, then go roust J out of bed, and then start a new day of alternately napping and monitoring his brother Jack's behavior. It's quite a life.

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