Author: Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: past, present & future peppers

Editor’s Note: Arrias rang in this morning with a sober and riveting rhyme this morning of young men who placed their time on this planet in service to an idea filled with passion. It is not about some lofty concept of “territorial integrity” but something much simpler. It is about protecting the ‘family’ contained in […]

Yelling at the Sky

It was a glorious morning in Virginia’s Piedmont. There had been a full moon in a clear sky, one filled with celestial mystery. There was an argument of unusual intensity for the early morning as the circle around the Fire Ring discussed it. Some called the illumination in this burgeoning month of growth the “Flower […]

Weather Report: Let Them Eat Cake

The Writer’s Section was scrambling this morning. The skies were bright, some of the humidity had passed with the rain clouds that swept up. The Weather Report we do for the Chairman needed some work to connect all the dots that don’t seem to actually point anywhere. There is still enormous concentration on the Special […]

Life & Island Times: A Day Too Long Blues

Author’s Note: After reading what our dear leaders now want to legislate regarding price gouging inflation, I penned this very rough draft to chase away the blues. We may be approaching ours, but they’re well past their expiration dates. Lord help us. -Marlow Every step these days we walk a fine line Your days are […]

Arrias: Proxy

We want Ukraine to win. But at what cost? With the prospect of spending nearly $50 billion on this war in FY22, and in all likelihood spending far more than that on Ukraine in 2023, US taxpayers – the folks who really do pay for it – are probably going to start asking: “Is that […]

Hand Us a Newspaper, Please!

A dizzying morning at Refuge Farm. Not a product of sleep enhanced by prescription medications or Belmont Farms fine beverages. Just lunacy that spirals with the speed of technological change. That was the case last night. A cool cloudy day with sporadic bursts of rain kept conversation under the awning. Supply and labor issues have […]

A Drive From the Country

(One member of the Writer’s Section first knew this building when the blue diamonds of the façade decorated the glass frontage of a single-story Chevy Dealership in Arlington, VA. The quotation incorporated in this grand new Accenture Building is a welcome ironic note today). We took a drive in the country yesterday. An accident of […]

Life & Island Times: Being Fanatical

Author’s Note: Drafted several months ago, this piece sat in my Drafts folder until now. For what it’s worth . . . -Marlow ********* Three of our friends, not just acquaintances but friends both younger and older than us, have passed recently in sudden and unexpected ways. Regardless of its pace, dying like American baseball […]

Rosie

It is Friday the 13th. The writers at Refuge Farm are aware of that, and traveling anyway on a gray morning. There is a luncheon to attend, and a book to be promoted. The Section pooled limited resources, hired our Bolivian driver, and are prepared to don acceptable Capital Area clothing and hurtle across the […]

Point Luck

(USS Yorktown in port Pearl Harbor, 29 May 1942 for combat repairs after the Battle of Coral Sea. The Shipyard had some timely orders to have her ready for sea in three days. Something big was in store. Photo USN). There is plenty to talk about this morning. Plenty of stuff overseas as the Russian […]