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Marching in Place After My Own Hat
Would I like to report that I’ve been so busy and preoccupied with my writing recently that I’ve skimped on blog posts — and comments on your blogs — for the last couple weeks or so? Boy, wouldn’t I. But no. I’ve been so busy and preoccupied with everything else that I’ve been cutting corners [...]
They Never Stop at Just Books
From in the fairy tale asylum: Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people. (Heinrich Heine) It’s Banned Books Week. Have you clung to a banned book recently? Have you reviewed one?
One, and One, and One…
From whiskey river: Dogs Many times loneliness is someone else an absence then when loneliness is no longer someone else many times it is someone else’s dog that you’re keeping then when the dog disappears and the dog’s absence you are alone at last and loneliness many times is yourself that absence but at last [...]
So — A Dream Lover, Are You?
[Video: Dream of the Wild Horses, an experimental short film by Denys Colomb Daunant, initially released in 1960. I first saw this in a film class in the 1970s and never forgot it, although "nothing happens." I've always liked to think that the title doesn't say this is a dream of someone -- some human [...]
Pocketing the Key to Your Own Cage (or Not)
(Yes, I know: a day late…) From whiskey river (italicized portion): [Skeptics, on why they dislike dogma] mean that the universe is itself a universal prison; that existence itself is a limitation and a control; and it is not for nothing that they call causation a chain. In a word, they mean quite simply that [...]
Book Review: Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan
Here’s how I imagine it must have gone: The woman went about her work calmly but with determination. Cupped in her hands before her, on the table, was a mysterious jewel; depending on the light in which and the angle from which viewed, sometimes the jewel glittered with color and sometimes seemed black enough to [...]
In Absentia
It has been one hell of a week. Not a bad one, but an extremely busy one. And it’s not over yet. As it happens, I’ve been summoned to jury duty tomorrow. As these things go, most likely I will spend a good part of the day in an uncomfortable chair, actually waiting to be [...]
Paying Attention to the Momentous
With apologies to Mr. Thoreau, I don’t honestly believe that the great mass of humanity lead lives of quiet desperation. Most people, I have come to think, live lives of simple routine, blended with dollops of making-it-up-as-you-go-along. They come to crossroads in their lives and turn one way or the other not because they’re desperate [...]
For Lack of Better Words
[Image: "Zip Your Lips," from A New Me's photostream at Flickr] From whiskey river (italicized portion): The Peninsula When you have nothing more to say, just drive For a day all around the peninsula, The sky is tall as over a runway, The land without marks, so you will not arrive But pass through, though [...]
The “Thud” of Adult Cool
Once, when I was teaching, I had this fabulous idea for a series of lessons. I just knew it would be a hit with the kids. I just knew I’d love teaching it. It would dazzle my peers. And quite possibly I’d get written up in the local paper — in a, y’know, good way. I [...]
