“There’s a hell of a good universe next door. Let’s go.” — e.e. cummings
Dennis, Old Boy. In case I don’t get to say the following at your going-away soirée this Sunday (see below), let this suffice.
First and foremost, I implore your many readers to save hard copies of your voluminous writings. As your friend and fellow historian Guy Louis Rocha said years ago, much of what everyone’s been writing in recent decades is forever encased in impenetrable cyberamber, zeroes and ones which can’t be read by even the smartest smart phone.
Not long before he died, I asked your fellow Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniators Hall of Famer Jake Highton why he published so many of his writings in book form.
“Books last longer,” succinctly stated Prof. Jake. Books have been around in some form for thousands of years. I’ve got dozens of five-inch floppy disks from the 1980s which can only be read by a Kaypro II computer which committed suicide decades ago.
Several years back, I published a story about the days when Renown’s county hospital predecessor allowed the Catholic Diocese to exercise improper veto power over the medical decisions of parishioners.
Dennis responded that “this story needed to be on the record.” He meant microfiche at the Sparks Library. The item is archived at my websites and the Tribune’s. I’ve got hard copies, as does the paper. Based on history, the ink-stained analogue will survive longer than the ephemeral digital.
Those who knew and loved Nevada’s GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) journalist should prove it by saving hard copies. His work is well worth it. I’ve got Dennis files going back over 40 years and editions of the Nevada Weekly, predecessor to the Reno News & Review, dating to its inception.
PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL PHYSICS. Those much wiser than me largely consider the universe we know as linear, although they also know that major forces can warp time and light. Awhile back, an expert compared our universe to a loaf of bread. (We have evidence of only our loaf. If there be others on the racks in the big bakery somewhere, we have no knowledge of them in our cone of experience, as Dr. Stephen Hawking advised.)
That long-ago writer whose name escapes me posed a fascinating question: What if we sliced the bread diagonally instead of by the familiar right angle? What if everything is actually happening all at once? Start slicing on a blue star in the Andromeda Galaxy and ride stardust until you cut out at Dennis’ adios thing this Sunday. Very possible if everything’s happening all at once.
I like the idea that each of our very short lives can be lived however we might slice it.
So, Dennis, meet’cha for lunch sometime? Yesterday, today or tomorrow will be fine. Hope the next universe doesn’t have to be glutenfree. See you soon.
NEXT NEXUS. As reported here for the past three weeks, Nevada lost its greatest-ever reporter when Dennis Myers was felled by a stroke last month. The GOAT, Tribune alumnus and Reno News & Review News Editor Dennis Myers, 70, was taken off life support on August 26 to begin organ harvesting.
The only in-depth obituary of my friend may be accessed with the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/
REMEMBER THE IDES OF SEPTEMBER. A memorial gathering is scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 15, from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center (the re-purposed McKinley Park School) under the Keystone overpass to the west, Vine Street to the east, Jones Street to the north and Riverside Drive (and the Truckee River) to the south. Its address is 925 Riverside Drive, Reno NV 89503. Additional information will be posted at NevadaLabor.com as it is released. Stay tuned.
FLOWER POWER. According to Dennis’ wishes, in lieu of flowers, his family recommends donations to the Women & Children’s Center of the Sierra, 3905 Neil Road, Suite 2; Reno NV 89502. You may also donate in Mr. Myers’ name via the organization’s website, waccs.org/ Contact: Executive Director Pam Russell 775-825-7395.
YESTERDAY’S GUNS. 18 years ago today, Osama bin Laden finished the job he started on the World Trade Center in 1993. It didn’t have to happen, but Dubya and Attorney General John Crashcroft were too busy cutting taxes for their wealthy buds to mind the store. Which led us into perpetual war in southwest Asia.
Wish Dennis were still here to write about it.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the Reno-Sparks NAACP’s 74th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner Oct. 19 at the Grand Sierra. Ticket info at RenoSparksNAACP.org/
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and first vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are strictly his own. E-mail Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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