I’M often told that THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor —https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/the-edge-of-madness/136 — is “classic” dystopia fiction, which due to the pandemic seems in demand at the moment. I’m also often reminded that dystopias, by their nature, are not good for the mind, body or soul. But I’m also reminded that dystopias have a real “positive” purpose in our contemporary world. After all, we’re well past 1984, the year G...

YESTERDAY I posted on the dark side, so today, in the spirit of “Koyaanisqatsi” I want to restore balance by posting on the lighter, even brighter side. An odd adjective pair? Well, one of the weights on the other side of the balance from dark is light comedy. Aristotle supposedly defined comedy as an imitation of men worse than the average (where tragedy was an imitation of men better than the average) — (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy). Ha, ha! But I’m not talking satire, paro...

A simple smile: “A pleased, kind, or amused facial expression, typically with the corners of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed.” Surprisingly physically close to but opposite in meaning from a grimace. A social expression of the face learned very early in infancy, used to further bond the infant to caretaker and vice versa.

In a utopian future, it is often assumed that everyone would smile; in a dystopian future, it is often assumed that everyone would grimace, an assumptio...