Unexpected Windfalls
Comforting headline from nypost.com for those who still believe in America: “Go Fourth! Our Founding Fathers weren’t the patriarchy — they were heroes.” Amen. Happy Birthday, America.
An NYP article by Heather Robinson summarizes a new book about an NYC cult still operating. Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival by Spencer Schneider, a 31-year-old corporate lawyer, chronicles the sway of charismatic leader Sharon Gans. She started it in Frisco in the late ‘70’s and moved to the Big Apple in the early ‘80’s. She reigned for more than 40 years until Covid took her in 2021 at 86. Hundreds of young professionals in Manhattan and Boston provided slave labor to build her compounds in Montana and upstate NY. They often worked 24 hours straight without a break. Even the intelligent are occasionally susceptible, as mindboggling as it seems. Gans has three credits as an actress, including Slaughterhouse-Five (1972).
I was once a big fan of Greg Norman, but his advocacy of the Saudi sponsored golf league is more than disappointing.
Amusing news out of Chile, headline from foxnews.com: “Worker disappears after he was accidentally paid more than 300 times his salary.” It’s the equivalent of $180,418 American. Adios, amigos!
The floating book shop got lucky on this gorgeous day. There were four options at my usual weekend nook: bake in the sun, park just shy of a hydrant, wait for a suitable spot to open up, or leave. As I was driving home along 86th Street, I noticed a shady spot open at the side of the new .99 cent store, across from Walgreens, which sits between Bay 40th & 41st. I gave it a shot, expecting nada. My thanks to the sweet Asian woman who bought a Scholastic edition on D-Day, The Color of Water by James McBride, and When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner; and to the gentleman who jumped on The Gripping Hand, sci-fi by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle; and to the woman waiting for her laundry to be done, who stocked up on The Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman and Barry Sears, an Anne Rice Lestat collection, Taltos by Anne Rice, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson, Chris Tebbetts & Laura Park, and Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price, PhD. I am blessed.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts
Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
