Here we are with our 28th issue, packed tight with literary and visual fun.  All presented without screaming, calling each other fascists or Nazis or liars.  Should right hand pointing include a public option?  Yes, and in fact it's pretty much 100% public and it's obviously optional.  (And, we've recently changed the name of our new punk band from The Death Panels to The Public Option.)   Does RHP need reform?  Maybe. Do you want a government bureaucrat between you and your poetry, your short fiction, your art?  No, you want me between you and  your art.  So there.

 

I had this idea of doing an entire issue of poems and stories with the same title, "Bad Ideas."  It wasn't a good enough idea to bring you a full issue of bad ideas, but thanks to those who  tried and, herein, you'll find a little portfolio of "bad ideas" pieces.

Many years ago, for reasons that have not been fully explained to me, I had the idea to test a baited rat trap by putting my finger on the bait pad.  I was sleep-deprived and a Ph.D. candidate at the time.  The Ph.D. thing is offered as both an explanation and to reinforce the idea that some of us with book-learning don't have the sense to, uh, not put our fingers in rat traps.  By the way, what I  learned from the experience is that the fraction of a second between putting your finger on the rat trap and the thing snapping down on your finger is not long to remove your finger, but it is long enough for you to say to yourself, "you are the dumbest human being that ever walked the earth."

Ok.  Thanks for your ongoing readership and supportership.  Enjoy your fall, all y'all in the northern hemisphere.

 

Dale