Heartstrings: the Goal of the Happy Birthday

Friend, reader and subscriber testimonials about Autonomia’s founder and writer

With the daunting goal to practice the virtue of selfishness, I invited certain friends to write about me—i.e., an Autonomia testimonial or personal tale—for my birthday.

As an exercise in proper self-care, I’m sharing some of what they wrote:

We were at College of the Canyons. Our student gig band started playing a tune. Your face lit up with a Big Sexy Smile. Almost at the same time you jumped up, spun around and moved with a dancer's grace on to our makeshift dance floor.  You looked vibrant—full of life and carefree happiness!”

—Carmen, college theater arts boss and maestro in the San Fernando Valley

This is what George posted on Substack’s Notes. My former Floridian and Californian friend lives in Kansas, where the novelist and published author takes care of his dogs, indulges in ham radio and works as an engineer:

My Pittsburgh artist friend Jim, who designed Autonomia’s logo, posted a comment to my page featuring the podcast episode reviewing The Holdovers:

Loved your podcast of The Holdovers. [Paul] Giamatti is an actor I can really relate to. And happy birthday today, Scott! A highlight of mine when you visit Pittsburgh is engaging with your enthusiastic dance moves. I hope your special day includes plenty of joyous whirling and twirling.”

Another friend—a businesswoman, mother and wife in the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area—graciously invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her family during lockdown. Being reunited with her during the pandemic is one of my favorite memories of celebrating life and productiveness. She addressed me and wrote:

Scott Holleran, what a true blessing our paths crossing some 30 years ago. You introduced me to Atlas Shrugged, a book I've since read many times over. You challenged me to question societal norms. You traveled halfway across the country to be at my wedding. You have challenged me to become a better version of myself by reminding me how important it is to be an individual. You challenge me to improve my restrained dance moves and to truly be free and fully embrace life and live life for myself. My life has been forever changed and enhanced with you in it. The world is a better place with you in it. Your writing and your words inspire so many. On this day I wish you a most amazing birthday and I celebrate you.”

—Melissa in Texas

Catherine, also a Texas wife and mother, kindly wrote: “I will never forget your bravery, compassion, and your wisdom during [an expression of free speech] planning and my [subsequent] First Amendment litigation…You’re awesome and I wish you comfort and joy.”

My friend Randy, a professional baseball coach, artist, dad and husband who subscribes to—and writes for—Autonomia and lives with his harpist-doctor-entrepreneur wife, Gerri, in North Carolina, recalls that:

[We] have been friends for 32 years. We lived close to each other in the early nineties in Los Angeles but since have been separated by geography. Nevertheless we have maintained our friendship through phone calls, texts, and emails with an occasional rendezvous. One story is recent and one a blast from the past.

In April of 2022 I met up with Scott in Pittsburgh to visit him and attend a Pirates baseball game. I told him I will procure tickets for the game and we met up and had an appetizer and cocktail before the game. It was called the Rebel Room at his hotel The Industrialist, very fitting of Scott if you know Scott. We headed to the game and walked around enjoying the atmosphere of one of the premier venues in all of baseball. When it was time to go to our seats I led to the front row right behind the Pirates dugout. “These are our seats?” Scott exclaimed. I said, “Yes they are!” The look of pure, childlike joy and surprise on his face was priceless to me. He said with a laugh, “I’m going to let you buy all of my tickets from now on!” We enjoyed each others company and the rest of the evening of baseball. We had breakfast the following morning before parting ways.

My second anecdote happened way back in the early nineties when my wife, Scott, and other friends went to a club to dance. The memory that stands out is when Scott and I were dancing to the Romantics song “What I Like About You”. We were just two young adults enjoying the song and movement of our bodies by dancing our hearts out. Again, if you know Scott you know how much he likes to dance!

I share these particular stories about Scott to highlight his charismatic personality and his joie de vI’ve that he bounds through life with. He is a dear friend because we share core, life-affirming values which we each pursue in our own unique way, which is how life ought to be. Happy birthday Scott! Enjoy your day!

Mark, a musical aficionado and vocalist, medical doctor and friend in St. Louis, posted a powerful note on Substack:

Former Studio City resident and writer Jeffrey Falk, a subscriber who writes his own Substack from his Garden State home, writes that:

Scott Holleran’s writing, on Autonomia and elsewhere, is a sui generis, enlightening, and invaluable guide to culture and history, and his ideas would save the vestiges of the West if they were held and practiced by more people. Moreover, he is an inestimable mentor and friend.”

Roger, a subscriber and songwriter, musician and composer in the San Gabriel Valley whom I met via social media and became friend, humorously writes that:

Prior to moving to Los Angeles, I lived in Maryland. The Internet and accessibility to people and information isn’t quite what it is today, so there was still a little mystery when following someone online.

Scott was like a beacon in the dark with his rational and sharp writing on topics of the time and I had followed him for a while before moving to Los Angeles and realizing he lived here. It was his Facebook posts I followed, the mystery, so I reached out to him to meet for lunch. He replied and we met in a nice restaurant in Santa Monica. I knew what he looked like so when I reached the restaurant I went right to where he was sitting. At that moment, I realized all at once that he really wasn’t sure whether I was there for business or pleasure! It was business, sort of, [and] we soon became friends … now a decade has passed and he became like family and attended my wedding and other life events. Now, I can now say with pride, it has been a pleasure.

Finally, Matt in Pittsburgh remembers our personal correspondence:

My cousin Scott wrote to me for the first time on May 22nd, 1996. His handwriting was impeccably legible, some of the nicest I’ve ever seen. In what appears to be blue ink on yellow notebook paper, the two-paged letter details the adventures of a character who was sent from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Glendale, California in nothing more than an envelope.

This character accompanied Scott on a number of excursions; from Disneyland to the movies in Universal City, and visiting Hollywood before dancing in the San Fernando Valley. They even got to see actor Kevin Costner accompanied by his children in Universal City.

Scott even let this very special subject sip his coffee as my dear cousin wrote articles at his computer. A true honor indeed!

The character I’m describing is none other than Flat Stanley, the apparent protagonist in a children’s book series written by Jeff Brown in 1964.

What impressed me most about this personal letter was the thoughtfulness Scott put into it. He was merely participating in an assignment given to the elementary school students in Dormont, Pennsylvania. Even the spacing of each line of written word in this letter is perfectly attended to.

Scott could have easily chosen to ignore this whimsical request from his seven-year-old cousin, refusing to take this piece of paper “Flat Stanley”, colored sloppily with crayons and sent in the mail on so many adventures with him.

But perhaps he had an inkling of a premonition those days leading up to late May in ‘96, that his cousin would sit and write today, reflecting fondly on the memory of Flat Stanley being in Scott’s care and custody all those years ago.

Each of the responses is a rich birthday treat. I’ve learned that, as I get older, I value knowing what my loved ones think and remember more than ever. It’s the closest I have to a crystal ball that glimpses the recent, forgotten and youthful past, both mine and yours. I suppose you know the value, too, if you’ve read this far. Writing is thinking, as Leonard Peikoff, whom I recognized last month on his birthday, writes. I enjoy reading what my readers, including beloved friends and family, think and write. This makes it easier and richer to celebrate myself on my birthday. Cheers.

This is the second of my Heartstrings series.

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