A geopolitical newsletter I follow had some interesting insights. The gentleman who has an eerie habit of successfully predicting global events based on geopolitics mentioned how he makes presentations in different countries.
He mentioned Americans are generally too optimistic so he starts with the good news, and leaves them with the bad at the end. With Germans, he does the exact opposite, since he claims “dourness” is their natural state. He admits, these are clearly broad sweeping generalizations. As an American in Europe, I’m not sure which best applies, but it’s an interesting notion.
As previously mentioned, a Western is my current project, as illogical as that may seem. The latest challenge is writing a decent southern accent. At first, I considered writing words out phonetically in a southern drawl.
That got old to read, fast.
Real fast.
A reasonable compromise seems to be dropping the g’s off the end of words, and an emphasis on those colorful phrases which exist only in the American South.
For example: In Dixie if it’s a drought or someone is scantily dressed:
1)“It’s so dry, the trees are bribing the dogs.”
or
2)“You’re gonna have old-monia- and new-monia dressed like that!”
COVID lockdown in winter is great reading time.
A classic book for any parent, especially fathers and son is the “Vater und Sohn” comic series (Father and Son) by Mr. Erich Ohser who wrote under the pseudonym E.O. Plauen. I give a copy to any friends who have a baby boy. It’s that good.
It’s basically a comic strip about the antics of a father and his young son, back in the day. The timeless themes can warm your heart, and hopefully remind you of shenanigans past. Unfortunately, Mr. Ohser’s fate was not commensurate with the joy his artistry brought the world.
Mr. Ohser’s courage was truly inspirational. He wasn’t just a cartoonist, he also satirized Hitler and the Nazi’s in his other works, which resulted in his persecution, arrest, and death in custody in 1944.
We’re all tired of lockdown, but this helps put things in perspective.