My past readings of this essay drew the conclusion that Montaigne considered his father’s ideas about how cities could be better administered and arranged as a personal criticism of him. I no longer see that in the essay, I think it’s more of an appreciative and loving tribute to his father and his skills as a public servant.

There’s also buried within this essay an idea that sounds very much like the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grants — a philanthropy that would have the goal of supporting people who do great works but have not been fairly compensated by the marketplace for their efforts. I am very much in support of public (and even government) support of the arts, but I would take it a step or two lower — why just support the geniuses? The world needs challenging and controversial works that spring out of sheer luck and outrageous courage as well.

I’m glad that Montaigne had warm memories of his father’s ideas. My father mostly had harebrained schemes to get rich quick, which he fortunately did not have the drive to actually see through. My reaction to this is to rarely speak of plan that I have no intention of carrying out, although I will sometimes float trial balloons to see what people think of my random schemes. I’m still carrying around this idea for a Thanksgiving-theme play about the Mayflower Billington family that I continue to put off, even though I think it’s a solid idea.

I’m sure my children will have their own reaction to me — perhaps that I pursued an endless array of creative pursuits without any plan to make any money off of them. This could lead them to do nothing without a solid business and marketing plan behind it, which would be fine by me. Let them learn from my quirky approach to creativity, I do not pretend it to be of universal value and appeal.

By the way, I have noticed that my recent essays have become quite a bit shorter, which is perhaps due to the overwhelming length of my daily to-do-lists lately. But I’m not upset about this — if I can get my ideas across in half the words, why not??