October 11, 1998

Swans has suffered this Summer. No new commentary has been posted for almost four weeks. I have not been writing for Swans since June 1, 1998, a lapse of over four months. I apologize to our readership.

What happened is a sincere mixture of over-extension and dejection.

Look, you take a new house project building a deck, fences, concrete removal, planting and the like, help your local motorcycle newsletter editor and give-and-take exchanges with the association's officers, attempt to sell your closest friend's business so he and his wife can move 3,000 miles away, and tackle unplanned computer systems integration in your workplace, and you end up working over 100 hours a week easily. Comes the cruise control, the damage control-posting whatever you can -- and the exhaustion... That's known as over-extension in any one's book.

President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, while in a State visit a month or so ago, answered a question about the country's fixation. He approximately said: "I cannot comment on something I do not understand," Well, I've been living in this country for 16 years and I can not understand either. There are too many people who are both moralistic morons and intellectual peons (of course I'll regret this generalization too). Simply speaking or writing I am fully dejected. Swans has not reported and will not report on this issue. One in five children grows in poverty in this country. That's 20 pct of the future population. We do not give a shit. Fine. That's only one example among many. And that's only one reason for my dejection.

I'll be away for the next two weeks, so do not expect a new posting until then. It will be a piece by Jan Baughman. As always, she'll be smoother and more tolerant than I am. I hope you'll enjoy it 'cause in the meantime, what's really needed here is a way to kick buns. And I hope to return, fully ready to do so.