I was almost perfectly relaxed, tranquil, even. I had no job, no plans, no prospects, no vision for the future, but everything was going to be all right.

The past seemed erased. Everything was now in the present.

BERTRAND RUSSELL AND MY SUMMER IN THE SUN BY STEVEN MCBREARTY 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 61

Slathered in suntan lotion, supplemented by an occasional targeted spray of OFF, I sat in a recliner chair reading Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy in the backyard of my family’s pink-bri…