Brian’s Column: ‘Life and Times’ Prospecting

Some Thoughts and a Pitch from the Brave New World of People’s Publishing

PressSay what you will about the Amazon dynasty, its Createspace subsidiary has made possible an entire new set of careers for writers and editors qua publishers. What I mean by that is if you want to write a book and you know how to use a computer, you can put a real one up on the Web and available as printed material complete with ISBN and all the bells and whistles that make it available to all the libraries of the world. It’s like in the movie, The Jerk, when the Steve Martin character finally sees his name in the telephone directory! Continue reading

Brian’s Column: Of, By, and For…

NorthvillePart 1: To Serve and Protect… whom?

“When you have one another you don’t need government.” — Russell Means

In the early days of last summer, I’m driving along minding my own business in my 1997 Mercury Villager near a little town called Northville, Michigan (about 25 miles from downtown Detroit). I’ve just finished a lazy Sunday workout at Planet Fitness, feeling fine, when I see a police sedan come up behind me flashing the red lights. My immediate thoughts are, “Geez, I wonder if they saw me dialing for Thai takeout on my cell?” Continue reading