Hello, I’m Alan aka Tater, Nice to Meet You An Introduction to Me Updated 12/8/21 About Me I am a 52-year-old semi-retired/on sabbatical librarian. I left my job of 25 years one year ago this week because it was destroying my mental health. I am one of those writers who…

I published a story yesterday about discovering people I kind of know being in the documentary about the Duggar family. — I expected to have the usual results of one or two reads and a couple of pennies. Then this happened. And now I start my struggle about why I write. I’m happy that 699 people have viewed what I wrote. I’m sad that it was the “wrong people” in terms…

I am reading half the books I used to read and am trying to accept it is just who I am now — I was going to start this with something about admitting you have a problem. That’s not the point of the post, though. The point is accepting that I don’t read like I used to and that it is OK. I’ve mentioned ad nauseam that I used to read 100 books…

When the newspaper surprises you with a connection to a news story — Facebook always has a list of “people you may know” on your feed. I will look through it occasionally to see if there is anyone there who I might want to connect with. The answer is usually no. For a long time, one of the suggestions was a couple with…

A look at my week in life, viewing, and reading — There was less TV to watch this week, but I did watch a movie and I finished a book. Maybe this will be a summer of movies and books. Life The week started out badly. I found out Monday evening that one of the horses at the farm died. Working with…

Random observations on the finale of Ted Lasso — We watched the finale of Ted Lasso Wednesday afternoon. I have loved every bit of the show and I’m sad to see it go. I thought the finale was the perfect end to a great show. Here are some of my favorite things about the finale. Warning — Spoilers ahead. …

Thoughts on a rift between musicians and fans taking sides — I can’t find the post, but I think I wrote before on WordPress about a rift between two musicians I follow. They had been best friends. One was the best man at the other’s wedding. When their bands were between albums, they formed a group and did albums together. I…

Short reviews of the books I read this month — I was going to wait until tomorrow for this one, but since I won’t finish the book I am reading today I decided to go ahead and get it out there. I only managed to read two books in May. I’m OK with this since the reason I didn’t read…

Some thoughts on extreme views on crime and punishment — Revisiting some of my older. unpublished on Medium work as I have an unexpected morning off. Here is an old writing on crime and punishment. I’ve written several times on my WordPress blog about the concept of prison and rehabilitation. …