Monthly Archives: June 2014

A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 4

Posted on June 26, 2014 by robertpkruger

“You must not think of me as a reliable witness, as someone immune to bias and distortion.” Lucius read this to me a few months after our trip, while he was working on “Crocodile Rock.” “What makes this great,” he … Continue reading →

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The Littleton Follies

Posted on June 17, 2014 by robertpkruger

Lucius read me his 1999 Columbine essay while he was working on it. We argued a bit. I said that maybe the subculture the Littleton shooters immersed themselves in had something to do with it — “all this Goth crap, … Continue reading →

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A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 3

Posted on June 16, 2014 by robertpkruger

Today as I write this is Father’s Day. Lucius was never paternal toward me. That worked out for both of us. I had a father the first nine years I knew Lucius, an attentive, compassionate one, a psychiatric social worker, … Continue reading →

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A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 2

Posted on June 14, 2014 by robertpkruger

Lucius and I had a complex relationship. Mainly we were just friends, sharing a similar political outlook and an interest in literature and movies.  However, we also did business together. I commissioned and edited a short novel of his, Colonel … Continue reading →

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Existentialism and Essentialism Versus Literalism

Posted on June 13, 2014 by robertpkruger

I decided to take a break from talking about Lucius to address a widespread and dismaying confusion I’ve seen reflected on Facebook since I first joined the site years ago. Existentialism and essentialism aren’t political positions. I’ve seen a couple … Continue reading →

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A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 1

Posted on June 12, 2014 by robertpkruger

June 12, 2014 — My friend, mentor, and tormentor Lucius Shepard’s been gone three months now, gone and not coming back, unless he keeps his promise to make a supernatural visit, revealed in a lightning flash outside the bedroom window, … Continue reading →

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Arguing Evolution on Facebook

Posted on June 11, 2014 by robertpkruger

Here’s a redacted transcript of a discussion on evolution that I conducted on Facebook. It ranged into the familiar territory of religion and politics. I think some very interesting points were made. Many thanks to my friend Ken McGlothlen for … Continue reading →

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Do Unto Others…

Posted on June 11, 2014 by robertpkruger

… As You Would Have Them Do Unto You is axiomatic. It’s baked into the universe. All your attempts to claim an exemption will not help you create a finer morality. Sam Harris’s project to make a science of morality … Continue reading →

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An Apology for Biotech

Posted on June 9, 2014 by robertpkruger

I would like to tone down unfocused alarm over GM tech, not the application of it but the tech itself. For about eighty years, companies have induced random mutations in plants with high radiation, analogous to blind surgery performed with … Continue reading →

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Appealing to Nature, Just a Bit

Posted on June 9, 2014 by robertpkruger

I was just re-reading a long, fascinating and very heated evo-psych thread I started on Facebook late last year, and toward the end it veered off into philosophy. A very smart author friend of mine has strenuously argued for adopting a … Continue reading →

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