Highways and Byways: The Fertile Crescent (another Farewell to Moristotle & Co.)

By Maik Strosahl

Artesia dips her
wooden bucket
deep into his soul.

Once more
to the well for water,
once more
from creation’s spring.

Goines On: In therapy

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A colleague and friend of Goines from years ago had recently revealed he’d been in therapy. Goines had been in therapy too, at first in the early ’70s, during the time he and Kramer had worked in the same IBM department, so he was curious about Kramer’s therapy, wanted to share notes, exchange revelations. 

    But over the course of three or four emails, Kramer offered only brief, cryptic responses, concluding with a belligerently explicit refusal to tell Goines anything.

    Goines’ initial impulse, after reading Kramer’s final email, was to reply, “Fuck you too,” but he restrained himself and went to bed in silence, asking for some counseling from Artesia.

Moristotle 80th Birthday Interview

Interviewed by Geoffrey Dean

I posed a number of probing questions to Moristotle recently. His answers give us new insights into his mind and heart, while on a lighter note, they also helped me figure out what to give him for his 80^th birthday tomorrow!

     Thanks to my sister, Jennifer, for taking the photos above.

What three (or more) words would you use to describe yourself?

Skeptical, optimistic, helpful. I’m surprised how easily those three words came, and how confident I am of them….No, those came too fast; they need qualification, elaboration.

Goines On: What does Goines want for Christmas?

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Goines almost always asked his wife what she wanted for Christmas. He wasn’t good at thinking up what she might want. Besides, in theory, they didn’t get each other Christmas gifts anyway. They just went on being one another’s gift to the other. Goines liked that. And it simplified things.
    But what about asking himself what he wanted for Christmas? The idea was prompted by a questionnaire he had been sent that included the question, “If you could have anything you wanted, regardless of cost, what would it be?”