The voters who have been voting for these democrat city council people should start voting for
Republican candidates to stop this insanity caused by dems, since Republicans have had no say in LA politics for years, it is the fault of left wing dems you the public voted for.
Effective government responds to the needs of the citizens. As a former city council member I did my best to provide constituent services which included making sure streets were plowed, streets were paved, trash was collected, traffic safety was prioritized, derelict properties were addressed....never in my 2 terms did I care about political philosophies. It is sad that many today let politics get in the way of their elected duties and responsibilities.
Thank you Sam for bringing all the victims of this crisis to life. I just published my first Substack - sort of related I think... (not sure why this commented on the Tuba article - meant for the fires in LA article. Both are great!)
I'm shocked and disappointed. Capitalism made America great. Planned obsolescence made the rich richer until the Japanese began exploiting it with quality.
The literature (books, remember them?) have, since the 1920s, pointed out how the rest of the developed world began looking down on America for embracing materialism.
Shelf life ist Alles!!
The platforms, in whatever shape or form they take, are simply what the greedy have done for the last 250 years...and before.
Where are peoples' sense of responsibility? Blaming it all on Van Allsburg's *Wretched Stone* shines a spotlight on the hollowness of family values and faith.
As long as everyone aspires to get rich, it seems disingenuous to blame the platforms. We could've easily turned to the arts. Europe has had full frontal nudity for decades. We've embraced gore.
I blame the Puritans. They were run out of England for their conservative views. We've yet to recognize their insidious influence.
This is a consumerist culture. In 250 years we've wiped out what previous peoples managed with for thousands. In the process we convinced the rest of the world it was great.
In which of your books was it that you described how the pizza-delivery-style heroin dealers couldn't wait to go back with Guess jeans and all the other baubles?
Not sure why these comments to today's post (March 29, 2026) are ending up in the post to the late Jim Self (and other posts)....but I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
This is the kind of "Get of my lawn" rant Gen Z needs to pay attention to. I have 3 boys immediately in the path of all this chaos. It's a mind-bending time to grow up. The Meta/YouTube ruling was a godsend this last week. I think Zuckerberg is one of the most destructive forces in society today, and his brazen ego prevented him from settling that case, which is what SnapChat and TikTok had done. Good. Now Meta's insurance company is off the hook for paying out on this claim. Best outcome ever. Now we have to contend with his A.I. friend campaign. He wants to convince the American people that everyone wants 15 friends but only has 3 close ones. "Meta A.I. will deliver the other 12."
I like your “ultra processing of America” line. And you are right, why are we leaving a few tech weirdoes who seem to believe that they are the new Messiah (Musk) or Hitler (Thiel) mess around our brain, personality, democracy and eventually existance? Isn’t the duty of Government to manage this for all of us?
I loved this! It makes me think about the fact that you must be so many other small towns that are suffering in the same ways. Thanks so much for this!
Thanks for many nice tips of writing ! I too am sort of thinking to write a bit whatever I find OK for myself. So I am going to follow you non stop from now and onwards. Hope you help me out with your experience and useful tips like today. I will remain obliged to you for all this.
Mr. Singh - so kind of you to respond....Perhaps you can put your comment under the original post. But if not, i'm happy to hear from you wherever you comment. I found that the book, On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, was most helpful through my journalism career. I think I've read it, or at least its first 8+ chapters, probably a half dozen times....he also said something that didn't make sense to me until later: it's by cutting our prose down to only the most essential words, through which, over time, we develop our personal styles and voices. How could that be possible, I thought. But it's true. if you practice it with everything you write, and cut the clutter, the unnecessary words, your voice will emerge in time. I was startled to see that happen in my own writing......One thing: if you're thinking of writing more, I would suggest that you try to tell stories from your own life, or that of family. Keep them short - 3 to 5 pages -- with a beginning, middle, end (though not necessarily in that exact order)....I say this because you have the information in your head, because it happened to you or your family. So it's there. Then it comes down to narration....This was the basis of my nonfiction writing workshops I did for several years....I would urge you to read some of the students' stories: www.tellyourtruetale.com.....they were people just like you, and their stories, with editing and rewriting, became quite good...best of luck.....please keep in touch.....SQ
Thank-you for such a beautiful remembrance of Jim. He was a beloved colleague for over 40 years. We played on the opposite extremes of the staff, he on tuba, me on piccolo, but we always had so much to talk about and share. Jim was definitely one of a kind. He will be missed.
Keep Scribbling
21st Century, role-reversed opium war...
The voters who have been voting for these democrat city council people should start voting for
Republican candidates to stop this insanity caused by dems, since Republicans have had no say in LA politics for years, it is the fault of left wing dems you the public voted for.
Effective government responds to the needs of the citizens. As a former city council member I did my best to provide constituent services which included making sure streets were plowed, streets were paved, trash was collected, traffic safety was prioritized, derelict properties were addressed....never in my 2 terms did I care about political philosophies. It is sad that many today let politics get in the way of their elected duties and responsibilities.
Thank you Sam for bringing all the victims of this crisis to life. I just published my first Substack - sort of related I think... (not sure why this commented on the Tuba article - meant for the fires in LA article. Both are great!)
3 pm Mountain Time, Sunday, 30th March 2026
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sam,
I'm shocked and disappointed. Capitalism made America great. Planned obsolescence made the rich richer until the Japanese began exploiting it with quality.
The literature (books, remember them?) have, since the 1920s, pointed out how the rest of the developed world began looking down on America for embracing materialism.
Shelf life ist Alles!!
The platforms, in whatever shape or form they take, are simply what the greedy have done for the last 250 years...and before.
Where are peoples' sense of responsibility? Blaming it all on Van Allsburg's *Wretched Stone* shines a spotlight on the hollowness of family values and faith.
As long as everyone aspires to get rich, it seems disingenuous to blame the platforms. We could've easily turned to the arts. Europe has had full frontal nudity for decades. We've embraced gore.
I blame the Puritans. They were run out of England for their conservative views. We've yet to recognize their insidious influence.
This is a consumerist culture. In 250 years we've wiped out what previous peoples managed with for thousands. In the process we convinced the rest of the world it was great.
In which of your books was it that you described how the pizza-delivery-style heroin dealers couldn't wait to go back with Guess jeans and all the other baubles?
Oh, well.
AI is ultra-processed information. As always: Caveat Emptor.
roger that!
Not sure why these comments to today's post (March 29, 2026) are ending up in the post to the late Jim Self (and other posts)....but I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
This is the kind of "Get of my lawn" rant Gen Z needs to pay attention to. I have 3 boys immediately in the path of all this chaos. It's a mind-bending time to grow up. The Meta/YouTube ruling was a godsend this last week. I think Zuckerberg is one of the most destructive forces in society today, and his brazen ego prevented him from settling that case, which is what SnapChat and TikTok had done. Good. Now Meta's insurance company is off the hook for paying out on this claim. Best outcome ever. Now we have to contend with his A.I. friend campaign. He wants to convince the American people that everyone wants 15 friends but only has 3 close ones. "Meta A.I. will deliver the other 12."
Sam, a great column.
I agree with you.
And
I'm a dvd dude.
No tv, no cable or Netflix, etc.
At 85 I'm downsizing. I just got rid of about 300 dvds and VHS tapes.
And several hundred books.
Your signed book i got in Tempe Arizona and others are now in the possession of a 28 year old lady that's building a personal library.
I like your “ultra processing of America” line. And you are right, why are we leaving a few tech weirdoes who seem to believe that they are the new Messiah (Musk) or Hitler (Thiel) mess around our brain, personality, democracy and eventually existance? Isn’t the duty of Government to manage this for all of us?
I loved this! It makes me think about the fact that you must be so many other small towns that are suffering in the same ways. Thanks so much for this!
Thanks for many nice tips of writing ! I too am sort of thinking to write a bit whatever I find OK for myself. So I am going to follow you non stop from now and onwards. Hope you help me out with your experience and useful tips like today. I will remain obliged to you for all this.
Thanking you again
Ram Dular Singh
A Humble Teacher
Banaras ( India )
Mr. Singh - so kind of you to respond....Perhaps you can put your comment under the original post. But if not, i'm happy to hear from you wherever you comment. I found that the book, On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, was most helpful through my journalism career. I think I've read it, or at least its first 8+ chapters, probably a half dozen times....he also said something that didn't make sense to me until later: it's by cutting our prose down to only the most essential words, through which, over time, we develop our personal styles and voices. How could that be possible, I thought. But it's true. if you practice it with everything you write, and cut the clutter, the unnecessary words, your voice will emerge in time. I was startled to see that happen in my own writing......One thing: if you're thinking of writing more, I would suggest that you try to tell stories from your own life, or that of family. Keep them short - 3 to 5 pages -- with a beginning, middle, end (though not necessarily in that exact order)....I say this because you have the information in your head, because it happened to you or your family. So it's there. Then it comes down to narration....This was the basis of my nonfiction writing workshops I did for several years....I would urge you to read some of the students' stories: www.tellyourtruetale.com.....they were people just like you, and their stories, with editing and rewriting, became quite good...best of luck.....please keep in touch.....SQ
Thank you very nice for your kind response and advice !.... I will definitely remain in touch with you sir !.......
Thank-you for such a beautiful remembrance of Jim. He was a beloved colleague for over 40 years. We played on the opposite extremes of the staff, he on tuba, me on piccolo, but we always had so much to talk about and share. Jim was definitely one of a kind. He will be missed.
Lisa Edelstein
very kind of you to take the time to write.....