Rado Mitruczek was one of the 'old guard' of modern art in the former Eastern Bloc going back to the 1950s when he emigrated to Czechoslovakia before the 'Prague Spring'. His battles with authority over freedom of expression were the stuff of legend.

And it was mostly legend.

Rado's wrangles with censors were mostly theater... both the artist and the bureaucrats got a lot of mileage and cachet within their respective communities of supporters over the 'culture wars'.

We had to curtail our fox and hound games for the European leg of the press tour. The studio spared no expense. We flew private across Europe as if we were some diplomatic entourage or a ceremonial royal family of some sort... and in a way we were. Right or wrong, in the minds of a lot of the general public, celebrity is the new royalty, only without any deference. Everyone was waiting for us to trip-up.

Our merry band of travelers, reassembled for this leg, was quite impressed at the chartered plane, though I knew it was in large part to spare me from airport scanners.

Monterrey was relaxing. I started making a habit of running on the beach and into town. It wasn't too long before people stopped treating me like a sasquatch sighting and actually started waving and saying hello as I'd run by.

Hasta la vista Hollywood. Ahoy, America!

Post production on 'Birds was buttoned up and it was finally time for our press blitz road tour.

Leading on the lurkers ....or.... Playing with the paparazzi.

In most areas of magic, I am generally considered to be a very weak wizard…but in one area I am almost peerless. In my specialty area of magic, I am generally considered to be one of the most powerful wizards in the United States. I am woefully unprepared to hurl bolts of lightning around or transform dogs into cats, but when it comes to sensing potentials in people, places and things…I am generally very capable. Because of this talent, I have been highly successful in training some of the most well known magic users in the world.

...When a load of concrete is delivered the recipient does not know it is laced with weird mutagens, mutagens that will have a severe effect on him and his neigbours...

A big part of my mood swings – at least to my mind, was Rain's dilemma. Part of my brain kept telling me that it wasn't my life and it wasn't my problem. Rain would sort things out and choose her own path. But most of my brain – and all of my heart – kept trying to imagine the anguish she must be going through. A new life, growing inside her, and she was wondering if she was grown up enough for the responsibility that would take.... and remembering her own past, suddenly seeing her childhood from the perspective of the young girl who was her own mother.

I would soon learn the mistake I had made to cure my incessant boredom; I had led mankind down a road that only gods should traverse. The mistake that came from ignorance and curiosity would change not only my destiny, but that of mankind itself. But like any event there is a point in time where all the threads meet, a time when the slightest change has the greatest impact, its synergy.

Virtual Reality, the dream of all gamers, is now a reality with the land of Ilos.

However, it's creators are unknown, and no one knows how the devices they have access it, only that they do.

David, now Aria, continues his journey through Ilos and learns a little more about his mysterious traveling companion.

Virtual Reality, the dream of all gamers, is now a reality with the land of Ilos.

However, it's creators are unknown, and no one knows how the devices they have access it, only that they do.

Virtual Reality, the dream of all gamers, is now a reality with the land of Ilos.

However, it's creators are unknown, and no one knows how the devices they have access it, only that they do.

Virtual Reality, the dream of all gamers, is now a reality with the land of Ilos.

However, it's creators are unknown, and no one knows how the devices they have access it, only that they do.

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 9

*Before…

He passes Mom’s hers and she does the exact almost same thing as I did and he picks up some bags from the floor that he brought in from Sears and Walmart and sets them on the bed.

“Your Mom and I agree that until you get home and can go through your things that I’d best make a pit stop for a few things for you so here you go. Now your Mom picked the sizes and hell she picked out most of this and sent me pics of what to get on the phone so if it doesn’t fit blame her. And the rest is stuff that I picked out.”

Oh…oh wow I look in the bags and it’s clothes and things and I can see packages of underwear and stuff and I look and look and look then I look at him and I look at her and I bite my lip.

“I…I don’t know if I’ve ever dressed like this before...”

*And Now…

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 5

*Before…

I look at her. “I’m like my Dad?”
“Well with like that temperament and stuff.”
“Oh…”
I…I really don’t know how to deal with that or how to feel about it? I mean I’m Sarah right so I just kind of thought that I’d take after my Mom more or something and not my dad and I really can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“Surprised?”
“Y...Yeah kind of…it wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.”
“Really?”
“Yeah…I thought I’d be more like you Mom.”
I look at her and she actually has this really sort of surprised look on her face.
And…I’m really surer than ever she doesn’t know.

*And Now…

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 3

*Before…

I…I don’t know what’s wrong but it’s wrong and I know she’s trying her best but I end up crying through the whole thing and even when she’s done I’m still crying and I roll over to my side as best I can and cry into the pillow.

I think she was rubbing my back at one point and trying to comfort me and she was replaced by Mom and there is something that is like maybe visceral there?

I know Mom’s touch, just from the way she was with me before I know the difference and I cry all the harder once it’s her.

*And Now…

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 1

Chapter 1

Beep…
Beep…
Beep…

My throat hurts…

There’s a flicker in the darkness… a jingle of keys? Seeing them falling slowly into a hand and a feeling of excitement.

I see a blue car, a muscle car and we’re all running towards it.

We…I’m with a bunch of guys getting in the back seat.

I can feel a forward pushing me back feeling going fast.

I don’t think there was any like drinking or stuff but there was yelling.

The screech of tires and a girl screaming.

Me?

Rites of Spring Break (Part 2)
By Beryl Greenfield

Dana Diamond, a sheltered teenage homeschooler, is looking to experience "the real world" at a sleep-away debate camp. When he mistakenly boards a bus full of co-eds headed for spring break in Miami, he finds himself thrown across the gender divide and into the middle of a bacchanalia beyond his wildest imaginings.