I'll get back to the Oates review in a few days. What I also want to do is put up some excerpts from an internal memo I've written. I'm debating how far I want to pass it around.

The ULA was designed to be a vehicle for underground writers to use to promote themselves. It's an opportunity-- but only if they choose to use it.

One of the problems is that today there are few people with the mentality of free booting pirates. (Which is all those at the Alamo were. They wanted freedom at all costs. They escaped from law and regulation into the inhospitable Texas wilderness.)

People today are raised within systems. They're brainwashed by systems, and are only comfortable within them. (Safe bureaucracies of some kind. Have your safety net, everyone? Your pension and health care? Don't exist without it! It's your umbillical cord.) I'm referring to bourgeois folks, of course, not the bottom third of America.

Middle class people want the pose of rebellion, but given a choice, they'll take security over making history, every time.

-King Wenclas