Note: I’m going to start including audio segments, like a podcast, to many of my posts. This will allow you to listen to me read the post in the event you can’t stop to read it. Enjoy!
We all have our dirty little secrets (DLS)… At least I do.. and I hope you do. What a boring life if one does not have a dirty secret or two.
Note: As long as that aforementioned DLS was adult and consensual in nature and/or did not involve hurting others, that’s your business and, hopefully, a fond memory.
Now about me and Bob - that’s how those of us who are close to him refer to him… Bob… Bobby… Bobarooski… or just “B” if you are familiar enough.
Our tryst was not of the common variety. When you are an artists - like “B” and I - things are a more… um… creative, let’s say. Let me share a little bit about the moment.
On Friday, Deb and I were walking around downtown LA. We were there for the Bernie Sanders / AOC, Fighting Oligarchy rally in Grand Park on Saturday. We decided to stay in the area the night before so we could walk to Grand Park and avoid traffic and parking hassles.
It was a solid choice.
Friday evening, Deb and I had walked over the Olvera Street. I had hoped to grab a taco and a coke - full cane sugar Mexican Coca-Cola, in a glass bottle - at a place called, La Noche Buena.
This is a nostalgia visit for me. I found La Noche Buena when my youngest and I moved to downtown for her to attend a performing arts high school.
On some days I worked at her school, in the parent’s center. Occasionally, for lunch, I would walk down to Olvera Street and sit at the outdoor counter at La Noche Buena. I would get two hard-shell chicken tacos and that glass bottle of coke. I would often talk to one of the employees. The guy had worked there for forty years.
Unfortunately, on Friday, we arrived about 30 minutes too late and most of Olvera street was closed.
We began walking back along Main St., turned up First to get to Spring, with the objective being The Last Bookstore at Spring and Fifth.
Sara, my youngest, had discovered The Last Bookstore soon after we moved to downtown. She knew I’d LOVE IT and I DID and I DO!
It is a two story bookstore with several artisan shops. Upstairs there is a section known as the labyrinth… a maze of books, both new and used, organized by topic and, in one section, by cover color.
Deb and I never made it to the bookstore.
While walking across the City Hall Park Center (between Main & Spring on First St.) we heard music coming from the Grand Park Lawn in front of City Hall.
Deb said, “That’s Maggie Rogers.”
Maggie Rogers is an up and coming singer/songwriter slated to perform at the rally. Also scheduled to perform were Neil Young, Joan Baez, The Red Pears - an LA based punk band my daughter used to see as a new act at a venue called, “The Smell” in downtown, and a few others.
We walked over to the venue site to discover Maggie on the stage performing to the sound crew and two women on the lawn in front of the stage. We walked over to listen and get a few pictures - suddenly realizing that one of the women watching Maggie was Joan Baez.
Joan was cheering Maggie along. She caught my eye and smiled. Initially, I looked away, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. I told Deb but she had already realized it was Baez.
Then I turned to her and said, “Thank you for your music and your activism.”
Clarification: That is what I meant to say. What I actually said was:
“Thank you for your mus…. sob sob sob”
I can’t really ascertain what Joan thought of my sudden emotional outburst. Maybe it happens a lot! But being more composed and gracious than yours truly, she hugged me!
I got myself under control pretty quickly. Deb and I went to a bench on the edge of the lawn area and continued listening to Joan and Maggie rehearse a few songs together. I explained to Deb that I’d burst into tears. Deb laughed but was not surprised.
In our relationship I am definitely the weepy one.
I let my kids know, via text, what had happened. They were also not surprised.
Jess said, “Dad, you are such a cupcake!”
Then Deb said, “You realize that she dated Bob Dylan for a couple years in the 1960’s. That whole six degrees of separation (six degrees of Kevin Bacon) puts you very close to Bob Dylan… you and he are both great songwriters.”
First, Deb’s taste in songwriters is remarkably astute - me and Bobarooski mentioned in the same sentence. Can you see why I love her‽‽‽
Second, and perhaps more important, I got hugged by Joan Baez, which is to say, applying those six degrees liberally, I basically slept with Bob Dylan.
You see my logic, right?
Remember, I told you above that Bob and I’s encounter was more creative than most. Yes, I’m taking gargantuan creative license. But, if you can’t use creative license for this, what the hell is it good for.
So, thank you Bob, for our brief encounter by proxy. I won’t forget you!
And thank you Joan Baez, for hugging me instead of laughing at me, like my mean girlfriend did! I’m sorry if it was weird… but weird is often my jam!
And with that, a very brief foray into my political leanings.
I used to be conservative-ish…
Now, I believe some people would consider me left of Bernie Sanders. I dislike the labels minus context in any direction. I consider myself a “Rational Pragmatist” - ie: data and outcome is more important than any label.
How did I become less conservative and more rational? Reasonable skepticism and a desire for a better world for my children, for all children, for all people, and for the planet.
Knowing that there is no evidence that Jesus or Allah or cosmic consciousness is coming back to save us helped me realize that it is up to us! And, given our lack of front-and-center awareness that this is the case, we seem doomed to leave our children with with a colossal mess, if we leave them anything at all.
A short list of things I believe we should work for:
War should be illegal. No, seriously!! Killing children should never be considered normal or “necessary!” Are we all fucking crazy‽‽‽ Why are we NOT screaming at our leaders to stop this? WTF!!!
If you don’t believe we are just another of the great apes, stop acting like this behavior is any different than the gangs of Chimpanzees killing their brothers in calculated raids. It’s like we analyzed the most violent ape and then said, “Hold my beer!”Education should be available to all, for free, like Thomas Jefferson and other secular & science driven enlightenment personalities believed it should be.
The super wealthy can pay more in taxes. Call me crazy but I’m fairly certain that someone with 50 billion dollars (just making up a number) will suffer through life with 40 billion dollars just fine.
Climate damage is real, according to 95+% of all scientists who study this stuff. If you are not a scientist studying this, you don’t know shit about it! If you are going to buck the consensus, have cause - strong evidentiary cause. Big opinions without evidence is a common but dangerous self-delusion.
Healthcare should be nationalized or partially nationalized. Somehow the huge majority of countries have figured this out. We don’t have the "best healthcare” unless everyone has access to the best healthcare possible.
Also, it is sort of selfish - like education. A healthier and more educated citizenry will earn better and more consistent income (in the aggregate) - generating more taxes and buying more crap to make billionaires more billions. Win-win??Leave well-enough alone: Don’t like trans or homosexuals, or bisexuals, or x-sexuals, or flight-of-fancy-Dylan-asexuals? Great, don’t be one! Nobody cares and, until you were told to be outraged about any of it, you didn’t care either because it doesn’t effect you! More on this in the footnote below. 1
Maybe care more whether you are able to be the most compassionate, self-actualized person you can be and that you are kind to others working on their own self-actualization - whatever the hell that means.
And now you know… or you think you do. People are generally more complex and nuanced than our anger and tribal myopia would let us believe.
Thank you for joining me on this journey!
With Love and Gratitude,
Matthew Moran
April 13, 2025
I know of at least two father’s who have “disowned” and will not speak to their children because their children “chose” to be gay! One of these fathers is a pastor. What a crappy person.
First, to said pastor, when you “chose” to be heterosexual, were you pondering the fun and amazing sex you could have with a man and/or a woman and then said, “both sound great but I think I’ll go with a woman.”? I’m joking, of course, because you didn’t choose that.
In the same way, your child didn’t choose that. Believe me, if they could “choose” it is likely they would have much rather chosen what didn’t cause you to alienate them like a moralistic asshat!
Furthermore, I’ll bet you have a few characteristic that your child finds less than desirable. I mean beyond the, “I’m going to cruelly alienate my child like an asshole!”.
I get it, you don’t like thinking about your child’s sexual behavior. Believe me, our children don’t like thinking about their parent’s sexual behavior either… it’s gross!
I hope my children find a partner where they can express and enjoy themselves in that area but I sure as hell don’t want to let my mind linger there. So, if you keep your head in your own bedroom, not your child’s, you can be less of an asshat and work on being a good father.
Are they a good person? Are they caring? Do they try to make the world a little bit better than they found it? If your child is doing those things, to some degree, be proud of them and cheer them on.
Simple, eh?
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