Montana

About the Book

The following stories are about Montana; some are about life in Montana, and some are about Montana lives--biographical sketches of real people whose lives are framed by towns like Two Dot, Three Forks, and Scobey, and cities like Butte, Bozeman, Missoula, Helena, and Billings. True, some of these people have since died and others have not yet been born, but lots of people are like that. Nor should one suppose that the people herein are in reality fictitious; rather, they are no less real than who they are in some yearbook, credit agency or social service organization file folder. Those who have been closest to the author long ago realized that her existence too has been fiction. The following stories compare favorably to The Iliad and The Odyssey, the latter recently presented so convincingly by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet, and Charlize Theron. Though neither as erotic nor lascivious as a Hollywood cinematic triumph, and that is a shame, Montana’s montage has been just as neurotic. Montanans are thankful that they have had more than their fair share of sexual encounters, but unlike St. Augustine or Rush Limbaugh, they have not felt the need to derive from such either a theology of salvation or unforgivable ignorance. The author has undertaken publication of the following stories not because she has anything insightful to say or that some fortunate reader could learn valuable lessons from this work, but because she is moved to review Montana lives which without a second thought were not spent in the service of others or working for the greater good. If the author is convinced of anything, it is that people with a highly developed moral sense or in possession of a book of divinely revealed revelations, only have made matters worse. It is entirely possible that as the reader wanders through the following collage he or she will conclude that this is not about Montana at all, and who is the author to disagree? Therefore, the reader is right to conclude that what follows is not about Montana at all, but rather a loose bunching of observations about people, places, and events that do not exist, and even if they did, any sane person would simply cross the street and pretend not to notice. All of this should only be confusing to people who take everything for granted, believe everything seen and read, and know that they are the final judge of everything making the claim to reality and truth. To such people as these—Wake up! Get over your fantasies! Denounce your delusions! This is the twenty-first century and at the Big Mountains Sky Resort Clinic just outside of Big Mountains, Montana, herds of men are getting hair replacements and tummy tucks, and women are doing Botox and undergoing breast augmentation. Boots have been replaced by running shoes, and the landscape is cluttered with life style centers, boutique farms, health clubs and condos. This is Montana: High Rise and Handsome.

About the Author

Prof. Barry Ferst has spent the last twenty years researching the impact of Greco-Roman polytheism and culture on the early development of Christian theology and mythology. A college professor, he lectures on Greco-Roman philosophy and has organized numerous academic conferences on inter-faith harmony and ancient and modern Western religions. He has made sixteen trips overseas, traveling throughout the Mediterranean studying the art, culture, and religions of that part of the globe. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities summer study grants and has recently participated in a Mofet Institute-Soul Train educator’s tour of Israel.