Sticky Wicket and Other Vexations

Brian Cleary was among a handful of workers who still wore a purple tie to work. He eschewed the red tie, as he did the Brain Tonic which was reputed to increase productivity at work, because he was suspicious about both of them. But how long can he abide the pressures building up around him to conform to his milieu? What will he do and how will things turn out? There are other vexations in the world that are real rather than fictional, and I had addressed them in several of my weekly newspaper columns published in the El Paso Times between 1998 and 2019. Here, the dystopian story and a selection of my newspaper columns set up a sticky wicket for our times, and offer a panoply of ideas for reflections and resolution.