Sausage Factory

The world is full of things we don't want to look at too closely. Even the things we do want to scrutinize, it isn't always for the noblest of reasons. Sometimes we want to give the toupee a little tug, take a peek at Oz standing behind the curtain. Most of us are like that. Winston Churchill warned that people who love sausage should never watch it being made. However, for those intrepid few who positively obsess about sausage; they simply roll up their sleeves and feed the grinder. Many of the people in this book are among the most fulfilled people on Earth; others are facing demons that would blanch the bones of weaker souls. If you pump all the wonder, pain and glory you can snatch out of life into the grinder, what comes out of the other end may be sublime, or hideous, but will always be profound. One thing Winston failed to point out about sausage; you never really know what's in there. You might find out that your favorite midnight movie maven got her start acting for the most heralded art film director of all time. You may discover a man who had to make up a song, live, in front of half a million people; or a musician and filmmaker who is worshipped as a god in the South Pacific; an actress who impersonated someone else to audition for her first big acting role; a man who walked barefoot across the Middle East armed with only a guitar; a comedian funding an art museum for Chicanos by stepping in a bowl of cereal. You may encounter a journalist who was a hero for a generation casually grilling lobsters while firing up a fatty.