Author Archives: 34orion

Chapter 3: Day 2: Dawn According to legend, the god Maui not only created the island paradise we call Hawaii, but he also made the days longer. The story goes that he found his mother Hina, who was normally cheerful, … Continue reading →

I awake to the sound of distant drums and muffled cheering. I suspect that somewhere on the Ritz’s property a group of native Hawaiians are giving some mainlanders a highly sanitized introduction to their culture. Perhaps a hula demonstration or Luau. I have no desire to get up and join them. It is too corny and I am too tired for any socializing tonight. But I am still wrestling with what brought us here in the first place. Not only the death of Conor but the circumstances that led up to it, how I had missed so much and the role I had played when everything went tits up.   Continue reading →

The sign above the gate read “Arbeit Mach Frei.” It was May 12, 2011 and I found myself literally staring at the gates of hell. The entrance to the most notorious of all the Nazi Death Camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Being here … Continue reading →

                       ON THE EIGHTY-FITH ANNIVERSARY OF KRYSTALLNACHT,                                                     NOVEMBER 9 AND 10, 1938 I don’t intend to make this a big deal literary effort or a weepy emotional debauch.  I simply want to tell you what I remember about Krystallnacht. … Continue reading →

Well the first days are the hardest days, don’t you worry any more‘Cause when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your doorThink this through with me, let me know your mindWoah-oh, what I want to know, is … Continue reading →

Introduction Hawaii smells as heaven should. Perhaps it felt that way as for the last fifteen hours or so I had been on airplane wearing KN95 mask and after smelling your own breath for that long anything would smell heavenly. … Continue reading →