I have never had a linear mind. Mine is lateral. I don’t go from A to Z: A reminds me of M and M has a slight connection to E–oh, did you know that E and T are distant cousins?–and, about a half-hour later, I arrive at Z. It just takes longer for me. I love the side-trips, though. I still don’t know, however, how all this stuff gets trapped, historical ants in amber, in what passes for my brain.

Take this song, from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. It’s my favorite Bob Dylan song, folks:

The 1973 Sam Peckinpah film starred Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens, Kathy Jurado and, oh yeah, Bob Dylan.

This may or may not make sense. But this is how I got from Ben-Hur to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid with an Arroyo Grande stop along the way.