Music

Last December, my son Charlie and I recorded several original songs at Mr. Small's Recording Studio on Pittsburgh's North Side. We did it on a Sunday, arriving at 8 in the morning. In a flash, it was 6:30 in the evening. The time flew. Not a minute was wasted. It was an awesome experience. To share the music with my son was very special. Much more of a bonding event than golf, or a football game, or fishing. There was something about the creating. Can't wait to do it again.

Autumn

This is my favorite time of year. Cool, crisp mornings. Falling leaves. Smoke from chimneys. Sleeping with the windows open. Enjoy the season.

In October, my wife and I will make the annual trek to the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus OH. The event, which is billed as the largest convention in the United States, runs for most of the month. There are thousands of horses, thousands of people, vendors, food, and on and on. For those of you within distance, it is worth the trip just to see the sheer volume and to get an inside look into the horse industry and some of the world's best competitors.

Hope to see you there. In any event, enjoy autumn wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Teaser

Here is an excerpt from the upcoming book of short stories.

"I hope the chicken lo mein is still in the refrigerator. I will heat it up for breakfast. I would like to have hot sauce on it, but that would make for a bad day with Arnold. I can remember what that would be like and imagine it just as well as eat it. I hope it is still there. Sometimes the lowest expectations are the ones that are most satisfying to fulfill. It is there. I will heat it, and eat, and have the best breakfast ever."

Wedding

This past Friday night, my son, Charlie, was married to Alexandra Saenz. It was a beautiful night and a beautiful wedding. The party after the ceremony was great! It's really cool when people celebrate from the heart, and when happiness is pervasive. That's what we had.

We wish for them lots of good things, but above all to keep that pervasive happiness. Nothing matters as much as that.

Cheers Charlie and Alex. Cheers!

The Failure of Politics

According to the historians, Winston Churchill said, "I would rather be right than be re-elected." Fast forward about seventy years. The American political landscape is shaped by the opposite approach. When I write my fiction, I get to vent. The following excerpt, from the short story Night Sweats with Arnold (to be released in October in a compilation of short stories called Death of an Atheist: And Other Short Stories), is some of the steam coming out:

"The news is driving me crazy. To control and direct the making and administration of public policy, that is to govern. So why can’t these egotistical bastards do it. Everything is about an interest, special or not, personal or not, economic or not; it is always about an interest not connected to the public good. One clear interest driving almost every decision, word spoken, gesture made, seems to be the need to be re-elected. God forbid one of these whining stuffed shirts actually made a decision that comports with governing, i.e., one that is in the best interests of the public."

The general lack of leadership in government is disgusting.

Injustice in America

Yesterday was a sad day in America. Two more people were executed. What a shame. A shame on us.

The death penalty is a human rights issue, not a penal issue. It does not deter crime, it targets mainly those who cannot afford a decent lawyer, and by reliable and verifiable accounts (note the work of the Innocence Project in New York) often gets the wrong man. The high execution rate in America belies its history of respect for individual rights, in particular, and its role as a world leader in the protection of human rights, in general.

There is just no case worth it. The justice system is not fool proof. Mistakes are made. So why continue with a sentence that is irrevocable and, when based on a mistake, tragic?

America's adherence to the death penalty defines the country in an unfortunate way to the rest of the world. It is long past time for it to end.

Excerpt from Work in Progress

This is an excerpt from the first chapter of one of my work-in-progress novels.

The following excerpt is Copyright 2011 Matt Cairone
All Rights Reserved.

"The manor track was made up of dilapidated old shacks clustered around the city dump. I wondered how you could live there with that smell. I never asked Shorty. That would be rude. But he lived there all right, smell and all. Most people never saw the full manor track because they turned right around and left lickety-split after dumping their trash. I’m not sure why, but my father wanted me to see it, so we drove all the way back several times."

Once the book of short stories is released, this is most likely my next project. It is a story about living in Southern New Jersey in the late 60's.