I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don’t know the answer. – Douglas Adams
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The post-South by Southwest blues have set in as they do each year. It’s hard to exist in that caldron of excitement and energy for 11 days and not get caught up in it. Now that I’m home, I need to re-orient myself. To place myself back in a physical reality, away from the fantastical. […]
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." — Stephen Crane I’m off today. There are days I wake up, as I did today at 3 AM, and know I will hang from the side of the cliff, white […]
ONE. I’ve been a Libertarian for years. There’s a host of reasons for that. The Appalachian heritage. The cyber-culture. My life experience. Even still, I’ve never voted straight ticket. I don’t believe in that. I believe in looking for the candidate not that agrees with me (because times change, and I expect my politicians to […]
Week 8 is when I want to quit. Every semester I’ve taught, I’ve had this feeling. Halfway through the semester, the newness and angst of the students and classes have worn away, given themselves over to drudgery of work. The long, dragging, rote work that is required at the beginning of a project. When there […]
A few years ago, my world was crashing. I’d met a girl. A fabulous girl. We shared the same interests, the same passions in life. We were Type As who liked the home when we weren’t working. And we liked to drink. And write. Of course we hit it off instantly and found ourselves in […]
Driving through the California desert and into the vast emptiness of Arizona after seven days digging through my family’s past, I’ve had this song in my head all day. And I wonder how I have ended up where I am. Sometimes I think I took a wrong turn:
I’ve never been much help to my students when they’ve asked me for advice on becoming a writer. It’s not because I don’t want to be helpful. I remember their angst and confusion and loneliness, trying to contemplate a life where I get paid to simply put words on a page. It seemed, to steal […]
I’ve stopped and started this post several times today, which is ironic considering the idea behind it. These things happen, though, and I’ve made my peace with such contradictions in my life. Enough with the trying to say it perfectly. I’m just going to let it rip: I do not understand people who refuse to […]
I’ve never been very good with goodbyes. Actually, it’s endings I disliked. The sense of loss, the incomplete-ness of it. A closed door that is never quite shut but inevitably locked. Always knowing there are things – some unknow-able things – that are happening on the other side. For years, I fought against endings. And […]
I’m reminded daily that my perception of the world is oftentimes not the reality of the world. I can’t make people want to be in my life. I can’t make events happen. When I start to get depressed about this, it’s good to remember it’s all about perspective.