Halfway between faith and criticism lies reason’s inn. Reason is the faith in what can be comprehended without faith ; but it is still faith , because to comprehend presupposes that there is anything comprehensible.
- -Fernando Pessoa ( from ‘The Book of Disquiet’)
With solemn cleverness, the poems and short stories of Ed de Silveira, Jr. study the sociology, psychology, and attendant madnesses of American life. He carefully analyzes both our neuroses and our greatness, coming to no conclusions, but allowing us to explore the world through his eyes. Whether he's talking about architecture or traffic patterns, he reveals things that we normally fail to see.
Ed says, "I was born in Washington D.C. But I ended up in a futuristic pioneer city which allowed for, encouraged, and punished my desire for, my seeking of, anonymity--Los Angeles. I made my home there.
"In Los Angeles, I lived through the emergence and re-emergence of ethnic groups, sub-cultures and indigenous peoples as well as a series of immigration waves from Mesoamerica, Pacific rim countries, the old Soviet Union, and portions of eastern Europe.
"I lived in proximity to great museums and tar pits. I fell into a self-documenting groove which included observations, thoughts and imaginings that went beyond my own life.
"My paternal grandparents were immigrants to California from the Azores Islands. My father was born in California but raised in the Azores. My maternal grandparents migrated from Tennessee to California.
"I spent over half my youth in South America; ten years in Brazil and two in Colombia.
"I have spent the past year traveling, reading, and writing, living principally in Germany (Bavaria) and Brazil (Minas Gerais)." You can write to Ed through Unlikely Stories.
Ed's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
2001:
Los Angeles in Winter
An Abbreviated History of the U.S. through the Late 1800's
¡Mira Guey! (Hey Asshole!)
Architectural Mutations in the American Trajectory
Fulcrum Point
New Arrivals - Atlantic Coast
American Samurai - In Training