I was reading James Sallis’ excellent & haunting new short novel, Others of My Kind, and was struck by this:
“At some point we realize… that we’re going to have to make the decision to become human and put some effort into it. Most start young as a matter of course. Others… have good reason for being late starters. But the struggle’s the same. We work at making a self for most of a lifetime, only to find that the self we’ve created is inseparable from the struggle.” Sallis’ protagonist, Jenny, does this masterfully… we can learn from her resolve and moral center.
It also brings to mind John Lennon’s notion in one of his many masterpieces, Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), that “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
James Sallis is responsible for a number of other great reads including Drive and its sequel Driven, as well as Salt River and The Killer is Dying.
Dan Weiss
Dan is currently the director of the Fanwood (NJ) Memorial Library. Since he accepted that position in 1997 he has dramatically taken this small suburban library into the 21st century with improvements in facilities, staffing and service. He has served locally, regionally and state wide on many civic and library related committees and boards. In his current position Dan gets to do it all, from overseeing web development, graphics design and renovations, to public relations and fund-raising, all while being the go-to-guy for overflowing toilets and salting the front walk. With his colleague, Meg Kolaya, Dan started the consulting firm Library Connections that developed the nationally recognized and award-winning Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected project. They produced a customer service training video (updated in 2014) and website primarily for library staff to help them serve individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families more effectively. Dan and Meg have given many customer service and autism workshop presentations and keynote addresses, participated in conferences, taught online courses and consulted both locally and around the United States. After hours, Dan continues his varied music career, now with well over 50 years of performing, singing and playing the guitar. He loves all kinds of music with a special fondness for vocalists (Hank Williams, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and George Jones), bluegrass, honky-tonk, and acoustic roots country. Check www.dannyweiss.com to find out where to hear him next.