(April 1, 2020 at 9:15 am)Ranjr Wrote: During my liberal arts studies, for freshman composition, I lucked into having Lewis Nordan, a funny guy, easy grader, and fantastic novelist. To avoid junior English, I took sophomore creative writing. First day, in walks Buddy Nordan. He liked my stories and we became friends. The junior American lit prof got arrested for stealing old manuscripts from an Oklahoma library. To finish the semester, they sent in Buddy. Senior year, I signed up for a poetry workshop lead by Carolyn Forche'. Sitting around the conference table on the first day, we were stoked! She was on her way to the big time and about to make us poets. In walks Buddy, "Hey everybody, I'm Carolyn Forche'".
I never signed up to take a Nordan class, but had him 3 1/2 semesters. I love Lightning Song and Sharpshooter Blues. I miss seeing the occasional email, all lower case whispers, from him. Not being able to tell stories as personally and lyrically as he does is partly why I became an engineer.
So, you might appreciate this:
An airliner out of Warsaw is on its way to Moscow. As it approaches landing, the pilot says over the intercom "those of you on the starboard side will notice an excellent view of Red Square." Of course, many on the port side rushed to the other side's windows. The plane crashed.
In the follow-up report on the causes of the crash, this was the conclusion: Instability due to excess Poles in the right half-plane.
Disappointing theists since 1968!
