what the fuck, 2016!  this has been a very freaking sad, bewildering, scary, heartbreaking year.  i'm nearly at a loss for words.  i haven't written much this year because of. . .of. . .oh to hell with it.  this is the year that climate change set its frightening weight upon my psyche.  i fear we've reached a couple of tipping points and sooner than we should like the shit shall hit the fan and we shall know a little of the damage we have done.

and now, this weekend two of my childhood icons died: carrie fisher and george michael.  oh, you bet.  i loved fisher as a writer as well as being princess leia organa.  i remember an interview fisher did when her novel, postcards from the edge, was published.  i think she was being interviewed by david letterman.  fisher described her writing habits.  she said she wrote with the TV on as background noise.  i was a young man falling in love with language and my own mental health was pretty rocky.  i was learning to read, for goodness sake and i didn't know if writers were supposed to watch TV.  i know i watched TV and grew up with it.  now here is a writer being interviewed on TV telling me how much she loved the medium.  that was music to my ears.

as for george michael, okay, i admit i was not the largest fan of Wham!  my brother was the greater admirer.  but i knew michael's music quite well.  he has a beautiful voice and his late '80s solo work was pretty damn good, particularly the song 'father figure', of which the video got heavy rotation on MTV and VH1.  i rediscovered that song this year via youtube, and developed a mini-crush on michael and the gorgeous woman who is the object of his attention.  still, fucking 2016 took michael too.

here is a duet of george michael and elton john performing john's song 'don't let the sun go down on me.'  i think this is a pretty damn great song superbly performed by michael and john.



as for the outgoing year, you suck!  fuck you, 2016!