I feel the need to start this with an apology. I’ve written, read, re-written and re-read this piece since 8 am. I’ve tinkered and toyed with it, trying to get it to say the thing that I want it to. I’m not sure I’ve accomplished that goal. It feels, at times, insufferable, which is the […]
I’ve spent the better part of Saturday domesticating: cleaned the house, cooked two desserts for this evening’s dinner, finished my laundry and re-arranged the artwork and living spaces. With the exception of the master bathroom, which I’m actually saving until tomorrow morning, there isn’t a spot of dust or dirty anywhere in my place. It […]
Nearly three weeks after the Vanity Fair thrashing Cincinnati and Appalachia hit the Web, my hometown media finally caught the Fever. The last 24 hours has been an interesting mix of blogo-rage, media coverage and Twitter conversation. As a journalist, a professor and an author, I’m intrigued by how stories develop. This one in particular. […]
That first kiss. It’s so full of possibility. Excitement. Joy. Nervous-ness. Angst. No matter how old you are. No matter how comfortable you are. That first kiss is the most humbling moment because you are raw, exposed and alone (well, not exactly alone but alone enough in your mind). You are at the mercy of […]
I’ve been in the special collections section of the Berea College archives. Until recently, this school had a large number of files associated with my family and the 100-year feud in Southern Kentucky. Apparently those files are now in Manchester, the County Seat. Still, I found some interesting tidbits in the New York Times: From […]
I am staring at David Foster Wallace tonight, surrounded by my newly filed writing projects for this semester. I am staring at him because tomorrow I will be once again teaching his writing in my magazine class, wondering if the students really feel the warmth of his words as they spill across the page. Manic. […]
I started writing today’s post, a rather in-depth treatise about my five-year plan. The first explicit plan I’ve had in my life. When I realized something: I’m not ready to share that will you. It’s nothing personal, I promise. Although I’ve always found that particular phrase, when applied to a relationship, trite. After all, if […]
I’m currently working on a book, a memoir really, about my family. It’s one of several projects I have going at the moment, and I’m not entirely sure how I am going to pull all these off. But I’m never quite sure how I’m going to pull anything off. I just keep putting on foot […]
1. I preach to my kids: write every day. I should stop there and clarify that sentence. Because I don’t exactly have kids. I am a professor. I have students. But they are mine. At least for 17 weeks each semester. My job is to help them find the tools they need to go live […]
Sometimes I float. I couldn’t tell you exactly what brings upon these moods in my life anymore than I could tell you when I’m anchored down. Surely there are ideas, tiny thoughts that bounce around in my brain. Dissecting. Always dissecting. The eternal search for that One Thing that will make it all clear. That […]
**Greetings Gawkers who found me through this piece or this piece. Remember to tip your waiters and waitresses. And the 1030 show is always different than that the 8.** I have buried the lede in this piece so I hope you’ll hang with me while I indulge in a little storytelling about why I’m a […]
Prologue. Curveball. The last time I held a baseball bat, with any seriousness, was May 1990. I remember because of what I didn’t do. I remember because years of my life came to focus in that one at bat, that one moment where I expected to succeed in ways that I had succeed before. I […]