In 1966, I bought my parents a carriage clock for their silver wedding anniversary. It was last wound 30 years later, in December 1996, the month my father died. Clive Sinclair More Quotes by Clive Sinclair More Quotes From Clive Sinclair My own zigzag path through life led me back to Santa Cruz in the early Eighties, and I have revisited regularly since. The place hasn't changed: head in the clouds, backside on the hills and feet in the ocean - one of the most decent and beautiful places on earth. Clive Sinclair me ocean beautiful life Heinrich Heine once imagined the exiled Israelite as a dog who regains his stolen manhood only when he embraces the Sabbath bride. I see western swing performing a similar function in hardscrabble Texas, turning dirt-poor hired hands into Dapper Dans with magic feet at the Saturday night hoe-down. Clive Sinclair bride magic dog night I still see the world as a place of bitter irony and black humour, failed hopes, dashed plans. I hope to make my work sparer, to outgrow my desire to show off. Clive Sinclair black hope work world Copywriting cuts the communication cord between word and feeling. By offering instant gratification, it atrophies more subtle emotions. Clive Sinclair emotions more feeling communication In the 1880s, a weedy Easterner named Owen Wister had something like a nervous breakdown. Wyoming, with its wide-open spaces and healthy pursuits, was prescribed as a cure. Wister was immediately smitten by the taciturn cowboys and the rules imposed upon them by the cattle barons. Clive Sinclair rules something like nervous One-eyed Reuben 'Rooster' Cogburn is the role that finally delivered John Wayne his Oscar. Clive Sinclair one-eyed finally role his McCarthy's prose in 'Blood Meridian' comes blazing from the Book of Revelation. Clive Sinclair revelation prose book blood As Annie Proulx is to Wyoming, so is Jane Candia Coleman to Arizona. Clive Sinclair jane annie wyoming arizona I'll tell you now that I hate myself for many reasons, but being Jewish is not one of them. Clive Sinclair being myself you hate Tel Aviv is buzzing with so much life, you could bottle it and sell it as honey, and even Jerusalem has a certain fizz. But if you want to see anger, go to Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon. Clive Sinclair see you anger life If someone like my father chooses to criticise Israeli policies, it's not because he is a self-hating Jew, but because he is not prepared to live in a state of self-denial. Clive Sinclair live someone like father I'm completely lacking any sense of religious belief, but I am superstitious. Clive Sinclair sense any i-am belief I believe that there may well be a personal God out there - not a monotheistic God - that has got it in for me. Clive Sinclair personal me god believe I had a Latin master who, for no rational reason whatsoever - I was a very quiet kid at school - just hated me. Clive Sinclair me reason quiet school I went to UC Santa Cruz, overlooking the Bay of Monterey and Santa Cruz, in 1969. Back then, the city was part-hippie, part-surfer, but mostly retired chicken farmer. Clive Sinclair farmer chicken city back Santa Cruz is blessed not only with natural wonders, but also with gifted souls who can fashion nature's bounty into man-made treasures. Clive Sinclair santa fashion nature blessed At school, I never had a hold on English history, and cheder was a place run by sadistic incompetents, so I felt alienated from the Jewish part of my past. Clive Sinclair place history past school My history was the Western. I grew up with the Lone Ranger, the Cisco Kid and Bonanza. I felt as much a child of the West as someone born in Montana or Wyoming. Clive Sinclair someone child born history As I was writing, I realised I wasn't sufficiently extrovert to gather enough interesting souls with tall tales around me. I was no Louis Theroux. But neither was I interested in exploring my inner life in public, in the manner of a Jonathan Raban. Clive Sinclair me enough writing life You have to turn a blind eye to politics in nearly all Westerns. Clive Sinclair you politics blind eye
