Thank Heaven for Happenstance: Clyde Bruckman’s Topology of Destiny

Over the course of the past 3 days, amid a cluster of strangely synchronous and asynchronous events, such as this life happens, “happenstance” has recurred as a theme, a slogan, a refrain. It has appeared in various settings: the Zoom call for my degree program, the conversation with my friend about time-consciousness, a song by Giant Sand, and, finally, as I watch Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.

One of my best friends and I have a joke: our cars, Evie and Tig, seem to trade misfortunes and cataclysms. When one…