The Era of Long Thoughts

Matthew Fox is a veteran newspaper reporter. The year is 1990. He sees a trend in favor of softer reporting and he resists efforts to write such stories. His own life is in crisis. He is a loner, with no real friends. His only close contact is sexual and fleeting. Now, in his 50s, his own unhappiness leads him to consider a damning story about the origins of an obscure chapel at a mental hospital. The consequences of such a story would bring unhappiness to a gentle group of idealists.

Bill O’Connor was born and raised in South Philadelphia. He’s been a Franciscan friar, a college professor and a reporter with John S. Knight’s flagship newspaper, The Akron Beacon Journal. He’s also unloaded ketchup cases from a conveyor belt, been chained to a stamping press, delivered furniture and failed miserably as a door-to-door salesman. He is the father of four children. He and his wife Elsbeth live at the edge of a woods and sometimes drink wine in the Alps.