Brian’s Column: The Truman Prophecy (2015), Foreword and Acknowledgments

Notes on the title, key metaphors, plot, structure, and characters

Truman_Front_2_for_ColumnRight away, many will ask what’s with the title, The Truman Prophecy? Okay, what happened is one night, shortly after I’d decided to write this—my ‘liberation’ (and first) novel—I refresher-watched the movie, The Truman Show (1998).

It depicts the life of a young man, Truman Burbank, (Jim Carrey) who has been raised since birth as the unknowing star of a television show—with actors, crew, sets, ubiquitous miniature recording equipment, on a domed stage visible in deep space—broadcasting 24/7 to billions of admirers worldwide.

!!Movie Spoiler!!
To make a long story short, Truman figures out what’s going on. In the climactic scene, fan-deified director Christof (Ed Harris), who adores his creation, implores Truman to stay on the show (enjoying a comfortable life in an idyllic community). [Though things have changed, haven’t they? Now that Truman knows.] Continue reading

Brian’s Column: My Bette Erwin Memorial

Tribute to a fiery leader who nurtured the cause of liberty

Bette_ErwinThis is an encore piece (originally penned January 8, 2007) as I reach the last of the columns I created in the former clunky format. By conjuring up memories of the way we were—at least here in L/libertarian Michigan in the final quarter of the 20th century—it propels me to think more strongly from the roots of experience. Also, the Libertarian Party that she helped to seed has reached, by many people’s accounts, a Day of Reckoning. It is good to reflect on the salient plusses that arose under its auspices. — bw


For a while I was afraid no one would find out about her passing; finally some solid information emerged from a scattering of emails from friends and who knew her back in the day.  “The day” being roughly 1974-1984 in Michigan libertarian politics.

During the period when Bette came to preeminence—she was the Michigan Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate in 1976 and 1982—I was into my iconoclastic-anarchist phase. Continue reading

Brian’s Column: Meandering Contra Monsanto

Memorial Day Weekend 2014 was upon us. Hearing that a spirited group of people from all political persuasions would be marching in support of the “Agent Orange” Monsanto for its beneficence in altering the genetic composition of such crops formerly known as corn and soybeans, thus to create assorted health challenges for babies and others, I knew I had to check it out. [Darwin and reputable scientists have maintained that selection of the fittest keeps a species on its toes, assuring that only the strong survive. In other words, GMOs are good for you.] So I did. I pointed my vintage Mercury Villager, with the Ron Paul sticker on the front bumper and ‘Snowden-Manning 2016’ on the back, down the road to the environs of Wolverine City. Continue reading