Every shaman has a totem that has been acquired through a perilous quest. My totem is the Motovun bug (“My Bug,” November 7, 2012). And my quest was the misguided struggle against crooked golf in Motovun, Istria, and Croatia as a whole. Thus my fascination with the painting of the bug that is now perched on a batten in my livingroom. Yes, my totem is not a soaring eagle or a roaring lion. It is the mighty bug, superior to them both by a wide margin. No wonder I have been fascinated with cockroaches all my life. It was a premonition of momentous things to come in the fullness of time.