I finished First Democracy by Paul Woodruff a few weeks ago. Then I mowed my way through Collapse by Jared Diamond (civilizations in the past that committed suicide by trying to maintain a life-style and destroyed their environment in the process—it's likely to happen again!). Soon on the list is God's Politics by Jim Wallis (a pastor, Wallis is not real happy about how fundamentalist Christians are trying to usurp "moral values"). But before I get into that, I gotta relax a bit first.

After all the heavy-duty stuff, I decided to let my brain go slack for a bit and I'm taking a shot at The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley (1919). I've seen the movies, but never read the book, so I thought it was about time. I'm only a few chapters into it, but unless things improve, I may give it up (Nancy Pearl's 50 page rule:   "If I read 50 pages and a book still hasn't grabbed me, I toss it aside.   There's too much good stuff to read, so why waste my time?"). So far, it's kinda dumb. The 1940 movie with Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, and a young, lusciously demure Linda Darnell was probably the best realization of the Zorro character.

I just got notice from the library that Singing for Dummies, which I put on hold, is in. I figure if I keep pluggin' away at it, I may get the hang of it someday.

Apart from reading, but related to it:   I have all the videotapes of the Lord of the Rings movies (I've read the books several times), but I haven't seen the third one yet. In a couple of days I'm going to pig out and watch all three movies in a row.

I also have The Mayor of McDougal Street (the bio/autobio of Dave Van Ronk) on hold at the library, but I'm way down the list. I figure I want it in my personal library anyway, so I think I'll just haul off and buy it.

Don Firth