Beyond the Wings, February 2020

After months of false starts and messing around, The Kev’s English-language album ‘TMItastic’ and Chinese-language album 《失败博物馆》should be available by the middle of March, ahead of the launch party on April 18^th.

Activities

This month I have continued teaching Mandarin, and now have four regular clients. I have also learned my first Spanish-language song and may put the effort online at some point.

In writing, I have had another piece published in LA Review of Books China Channel. I have given the novel a rest for the past three weeks pending another beta reading; however, I have had an acceptance letter for ‘Kobe Bryant and the Freedom Swimmer’, a short story that I started working on in 2015, which is very encouraging.

Output

I have completed some last-minute additions to TMItastic. One of the songs, “Childhood”, had B-side written all over it, so I replaced it with this one

Then I decided “Catholic Love” was not quite right, so I replaced it with this one, about how technology has improved millions of lives in a way that is not often talked about.

Wider World

Bernie Sanders is now clear favourite to be the Democratic nominee to oppose Donald Trump in November. He would be the oldest ever president by some distance and his policies imply massive tax increases, but it is not completely impossible that he will win.

As the Economist has pointed out, if the election is simply a referendum on President Trump, then he will be very vulnerable. However, all of the Democratic contenders have major flaws, Buttigieg is too green, Klobuchar lacks national name recognition, Bloomberg is too compromised, Warren – probably the most viable – is too left wing in most people’s eyes, and Biden is barely medically alive.

One of the possible knock-on effects of the Coronavirus is a recession, which could cause the incumbent problems at the ballot box. Only a fool would predict anything too confidently.