S Paul Klein

When I was very young I wanted to be an architect, live on a farm, and own a radio station. When I grew up I studied architecture, became a film writer, and retired to a farm. Overall, not bad. I have designed and built houses (including the one we live in), had sheep and chickens in the dooryard, and written and produced more than 500 films about industry, labor, agriculture, religion, history, politics, medicine, art and travel. And then I retired. (One of the essays in "Mixed Freight" defines retired as "being tired again”). For most of the last twenty years I have been learning the craft of writing without pictures: essays, short stories and novels.

In 2007, my first novel was published: "Accidents of Time and Place." In it, I examine what it takes to be a hero in a world of war and personal politics - - as seen in the 1950s. The war story, the political story, are the framework for examining a young man who simply follows the path life shows him, and by being in the right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) place, becomes that most misunderstood of characters: a hero. How he handles it is what made the story interesting to me, and one I wanted to tell.

"Mixed Freight: Checking Life's Baggage," is a collection of essays (some previously published) that reflect my very personal views about society, government, economics, the natural world and religion. My own film-of-memory without the pictures. The result, perhaps, of three-quarters of a century of observing and describing my world. Come, let me share it with you.