How I spent my summer vacation

I began Marxist Update a year ago as a part-time "hobby" because comrades kept
complimenting me on the informative articles I found on the web and emailed to
them.  But of course sending out a dozen emails a day proved time-consuming, so
I decided to put the interesting articles I found all in one place, and just
give comrades the web address.

Due to a family situation I have had a hiatus for about six months, but the
family situation is running rather sweetly now, so I am back to the "hobby."
Work and family don't leave me the time for big writing projects I would like to
do (and I have a legal-size sheet of paper full of ideas) so this is about all I
can do right now.

What did I do during the hiatus?  I read ten novels by Patrick O'Brian about the
Royal Navy during the Napoleonic era.  That sounds outrageously escapist, but
any communist could appreciate these novels.  The motivations of all the
characters are (whether understood so perfectly by them or not) economic.  Royal
Navy ships that captured enemy vessels or transports got to divvy-up the prize
money, then run the gauntlet of parasitic "land sharks" when they got ashore.
Speculative financial bubbles on the stock exchange were rampant and ruinous
then, as well.

I also spent a lot of time with my grandson.  (Don't rent "Marmaduke" with Owen
Wilson.  To think he tried to kill himself before making that movie.  I wonder
how he feels now?)  My grandson Liam has play-dates with some home-schooled
children down the street, and says he is now a Christian.  We left religion
alone, figuring he would ask at some point, and the point arrived this summer!
He says he now has four gods: "God, Jesus, Poseidon, and Ares the God of War."
Our evening meals are often droll.

When my wife can leave Farmville alone, I am also on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100001565934753

If anyone knows of any political activites coming up in Cleveland, please put me
on the contact list.  Two years of the Democrats has given communists an
excellent opening to make the case for breaking with the Democrats and engaging
in some independent labor/community political action: the top priority for
communists in the U.S. for the last 90 years.

Comradely,

Jay Rothermel