Catch 22

Good Mornin'

Well, just goes ta show me, how, sometimes, ya start out with what seems ta be a good idea, and, turns out, it was a little more complicated than ya first thought.

It'd been some years, I'd been thinkin' ta write somethin', but gettin' older and never bein' too smart, I had trouble keepin' track of a story line. Then, noticin' how we can color a story, by the things we choose ta remember, the whole question of "fact or fiction" came up. So, number one, keep it simple, I figured if I just took pictures of what goes on in a day and put some little poems and stories in between, it might tell a story, little colored as I was able.

But, still I knew, ya couldn't, really call it true, 'cause, no doubt, it was my version a things and therefore, not the whole picture or necessarily true. So, I came up with the idea of usin' a pen name. I figured, "heck, if the author is ficticious, than I don't have ta answer the question, fact or fiction".

Then I suppose, there was a question, too, about privacy; I'm kinda partial to it. Likely, part a why I live in the middle a nowhere, and hang mostly with horses and dogs. Just in case my little book caught on, I really didn't wanta get famous; sometime folks see things in a book and figure the author is some kinda genius and wanta make him or her, some kinda "rock star", forgettin' that "genius, too, is in the eye a the beholder".

So, I come up with Jeune Bailey Hall. It just made me laugh, "Jeune" soundin' like a girls name, "Bailey and Hall", the maiden names a my two Grandmothers; I do live in Navajo Country and Navajos follow there families, by their mother's names. And, women seldom get the credit they deserve. That way I figured, I could write my little book and nobody'd come lookin' for me; sides "Jeune" means young in french and "young" is often synonymous with "foolish" and I figured that was about right!

This pen name also come in handy, when my friends tried ta get me on facebook, nervous and unsure, as I was about "the web" and privacy questions; facial recognition software and conspiracy theories. But, then there came a problem connectin' with friends, old and new; "exactly who was I?". I tried to be upfront, with old friends and most times with new, that Jeune was not my real name. Somehow, it had worked for Mark Twain, aka Sam Clemmons, and I always admired him and his wit.

So, case I dropped the ball and by no means wantin' to deceive, I figured I'd post this little article, as public notice.

Then, for anyone interested, it occurred to me, how this, too, was part of the gift of the book; if I tried to explain all the "magic and miracle" that swirled around it's comin' together, you'd never believe it. But, here's what I mean. We live in a day and age, where fact and fiction are all mixed up; lyin' and counterfeitin', everywhere. This has been a huge question for me, ever since I was little and first noticed the difference, 'tween horses and people; people often possessed of grand illusions of themselves and the world around them, horses not so much. And, now, the question is even gettin' larger; "reality tv", generally anything but, governments and politicians, lyin' through their teeth, computers and "virtual reality", corporations with "human rights", technolgy able to "simulate" just about anything and everything. No wonder people start worryin' about "alien lizards" able to transform themselves into people, posing as politicians! Really, some people believe this stuff.

And, so, here's my grand consideration of Jeune Bailey Hall; could he help us reconsider what's real and how do we "know"? One of my favorite quotes, from The Little Prince, by Antoine de St. Exupery, "one sees clearly, only with the heart; anything essential, invisible to the eye!". In this day and age of smoke and mirrors, hype and spin, I believe that this "seein' with the heart", could not be more important; in some way, you could say, a matter of life and death. And, I believe it can be cultivated.

I mean, how close do we need to get to where "science" can reproduce, almost anything, 'fore the question of "is it real?" just eats our whole lunch? But, truly, I believe, there is something about love, a way of seein' inside ourselves, that will not be deceived and this I can know.

So, don't be upset, if Jeune's not quite what ya thought. He was never meant to deceive, but, certain, had a question for all of us; "what is real and how do we know?". And, "if there is somethin' like seein', wouldn't that be a good thing, this day and age?".

If I called myself "Rutabaga", wouldn't mean a thing to my horse!

Have a great day!

Jeune, mostly.