journal features

my ancestors, the "children of peace"

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2012.05.23

I see from the historical records that a certain idiosyncrasy runs in the family, and I am pleased.

I don't share much in common with my deeply religious ancestors, save perhaps an interest in music and a willingness to work on projects. But I admire what they attempted. Well, the upper Canada rebellion has come to be derided and mocked, but it's the community and its message that seemed admirable.

rand()m quote

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

—Michael Crichton