I had planned to write this earlier today, but for the first time in ages I threw my back out.  (Yes, Rick's "bad back" episode in The Handyman's Dream was inspired by my own low back woes.)  Talk about timing!  Both my chiropractor and family medicine doctor are out of town, so I ended up at one of those quickie medical clinics.  Now, several hours and several pills later, my back still hurts but I don't seem to care quite as much.  Therefore, with Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" playing in the backround, I'll try to get this blog finished.  If my spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. are poor, please remember -- I'm medicated! 

 

Much to my surprise I've actually being watching coverage of the Democrats' convention in Denver this week.  I usually don't bother, but this year I'm wishing even more fervently than usual that the Dems will kick some serious elephant ass.  As my friend Mona wrote in a letter to the local paper this week, "it's time for us to be delivered from these last eight years of living hell."  How right she is.  In case you've forgotten some of the outrages of the Bush adminstration, I seriously suggest you read the cover story in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.  I've thoughtfully included a link for you here:

 

 

I could go into quite a harangue, but I'll leave it at this:  I was a diehard supporter of Senator Clinton through the primaries.  The other night she told me on television that she's supporting Senator Obama because we must all join forces to bring about some positive change.  I'm with her, so I have every intention of voting for Barack Obama this November.  All I can really do is encourage as many people as possible to do the same.  It's time for this country to wake up and put an end to Republican Imperialism!

 

Okay.  So much for politics.  On a more entertaining note, I saw the movie American Teen last weekend.  For those unfamilar with it, American Teen is a documentary that follows several kids through their senior year in a typical American high school.  It has won raves at tons of film festivals, and went into wide release this month.  The movie has special resonance for me because it was filmed right here in northern Indiana in the city of Warsaw, which is, as the crow flies, probably about sixty or seventy miles from my hometown and the fictional town of Porterfield in the HANDYMAN books. 

 

It really was an excellent documentary.  Lord, did it bring back memories of high school.  I tell you, the kids may all have cell phones, and computers instead of typewriters, but it proved to me that the behavior and feelings of high school kids hasn't changed a bit since my own hellish high school days in the late seventies. 

 

I highly recommend American Teen.  And for those readers of the HANDYMAN books who are curious about the landscape and general sense of place where Porterfield and northern Indiana are concerned, they will find it in this movie.     

 

And what of Porterfield and our handyman Ed Stephens?  Well, the other day I almost ran the car into the side of the garage (again) because I was so lost in thought about Ed and Rick and the possibilties of The Handyman #4.  Hmmm.  I sense a new book brewing within...