PART XV

After Alberto Besteiro, Federico Longoria and Jose Tamayo, I am the unofficial fourth member of The Connectors although being part of the quartet includes the likes of Emilio Crixell, Charlie Harrison, Carlo Tamayo and a host of other fine musicians.

I have been writing as long as they have been playing. My career as a writer and a journalist began in vigor when The Brownsville Herald named me its sports editor in 1977.

I covered six football teams that autumn (Hanna, Porter, Pace, St. Joe, Los Fresnos and Port Isabel) and at the end of the season four head coaches were fired as a result of the vitriolic verbiage I would vent in The Peerless Observer, my much-read column. I have never stopped putting pen to paper or finger to keys for the past four decades.

If Facebook silences me, I entertain and inform in a more enthusiastic manner on The McHale Report available at themchalereport.blogspot.com. There are numerous articles and art I post on a daily basis that I would not dare publish on Facebook. It would be literary suicide.

Just like musicians have to play, I have to write with the dual hopes that I have written something worth rereading and still have the skills to compose a masterpiece or two or perhaps even poems that will stand the test of time. These are my enduring inspirations.

Not all of us are meant to be World Champions in our endeavors, but our motivations are based on pleasure and not fame. Writing brings me joy and you are only limited by the limitations that you imposed on yourself.

The biggest obstacle is just plain laziness and that dark and gloomy thought that the undertaking is futile. But force of habit, fortunately, lifts your spirits and you climb into the ring again to spar with your demons who are the real muses.

I am humbled by the responses that have greeted my return to Facebook, but my footing on thin ice means I could disappear beneath the surface once again with one fatal step. That is the reason I am reminding my audience that I have a dynamic blog that is adult oriented and not meant for the PG standards established by FB.

I have no objections to FB's demands. It's their ball and they can take it home any time they want. Nevertheless, I relish this outlet and I don't want to jeopardize it for lack of self-restraint. Not that I wouldn't lose any sleep over it if I were permanently denied access. I live by the we-come-&-we-go philosophy.

In conclusion, which is the easiest way to close a presentation, I am available with all my excesses and iconoclastic outrages at The McHale Report.

Again, thanks for the welcome back. I hope it won't be a short stay. I appreciate the format.