By Oronte. The epigraph ("The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley...") at the start of this multi-part series is often remembered as a poem about personal failure, or else is conflated with Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne” as sentimental melancholy in the face of change. In fact it’s mostly about expansion, technology, nature, resources, unintended cruelty, uncaring, and incompatible ways of life. That is, it's about our time. More...