Dear Gentlereaders,
The Flyoverland Crank, although technically a blog, is a self-published column that's inspired by/modled after a traditional newspaper column that is not primarily based on politics featuring "the wit and wisdom of a garrulous geezer" — me. I really do live in Flyoverland and I am a (lovable) crank.
My column began as letters written to my grandkids, the Stickies, and my daughter and son-in-law, Skippy and Nipples. Nowadays my letters are written to anyone who might find my various and sundry musings worth reading, my dear gentlereaders and my grandkids, who are now all grandadults.
While I present as a straight white rapidly aging gentile man riddled with osteoarthritis and various and sundry other afflictions, I self-identify as a gorgeous young, Jewish athletic lesbian of color who bears a striking resemblance to a young Halle Berry trapped inside an old white dude's body.
I began writing a brand-spanking new column every week in July of 2015 (except for when I took a brief sabbatical at a secret Taoist monastery in the Wudang mountains in the fall of '22). Recently, I switched to publishing columns every other week.
You'll be relieved to know there is no community to join, no Flyoverland Crank $20 coffee cups to buy, or yet another podcast to listen to. You can reach me via email at TheFlyoverlandCrank@gmail.com... if you are a gentleperson.
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." -Nietzsche
My why is my daughter and son-in-law, my grandkids, and a desire to hang around to see if Western Civilization's ongoing attempted suicide has been thwarted by Tony Stark and the Donald.
In the words of a much better writer than I:
“At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud. I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I think we should remember that we are part of a great whole. All living things are our brothers and sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.” -Kenneth Clark, "Civilization"
M.M.
