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The state of the novel
Almost twenty years ago, I had an idea about a hero who could surround himself with an impermeable shell. I tried to write about it, but I couldn’t find the focus while I was in college, so it never got beyond a short prologue. That prologue may exist somewhere, but I haven’t seen it in Continue reading
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Sick to my stomach
The vast majority of people living under an arbitrary and authoritarian government are never disappeared from their homes, or herded into concentration camps, or stripped of their property and due process rights. If I could grant the people of the United States an understanding of anything, it is that it is still a moral and Continue reading
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The Drawback
Before we get into a morass of negativity, I want to emphasize the positives: I had a great time in Seattle last week. To celebrate a friend’s graduation from a nursing program, Ariele and I drove up some 200 miles in our Chevy Bolt, and four days later returned home in safety and smiles. It Continue reading
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A High School Chemistry Equation
At my tutoring job, I have an opportunity to re-familiarize myself with subjects I have not touched in a while. Certain types of questions tend to come up in waves, as groups of students encounter the same conceptual difficulties at around the same time. By the time a wave crests, I am refreshed enough to Continue reading
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Old Things
(Note for mobile readers below*) _All my things are in the creek todayI have long since replaced them all Many new things Many more things But my things are slimy with algae Or somethingI don’t know what that pink stuff is There was a book about it on my shelfAnd you guessed it — very Continue reading
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Living On in the Material World
Note: A version of this post appeared on a previous version of this blog on March 10th, 2023. I am reposting it here on February 27th, 2025, the third anniversary of my mother’s passing. In late December of 2021, about two months before my mom died of leukemia, my wife and I arrived at her Continue reading
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The State of the Novel
As I gear up for another writing day,I thought it worthwhile to remind myself how far I’ve come and how much I have accomplished. So let’s start with two statistics: Chapters completed: 32 (of a projected 35). Word Count: 92,529 (including the 5,000 words so far written for Chapter 33), after an initial target of Continue reading
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The Run-On Sentence
The other day at work, as I was assisting a small group of high school students in collectively and collaboratively editing a writing assignment by making changes to a shared Google document that was purposefully riddled with grammar and syntax errors, the teacher advised them to identify and correct a particularly egregious run-on sentence, and Continue reading
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The Century Sailing on the Backs of Centuries
You see the ship upon the sea that sinks, A forsaken ship, following the wind,a creaking hulk of artifacts all boundtogether by the living memoriesof the sun-burnt sailors, who scrape the hullfor salt and seaweed, flotsam, jetsam, fish,and all necessities of life they findin transit, crossing each meridianand parallel that lines a drop of bluesuspended Continue reading
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Scenes from the capitol today
Let the Trumpists know that we will not submit to their fascism, and we will not pretend that it isn’t real when it is happening right before our eyes. The Resistance encompasses all of American history. It will not stop its demand for justice now, or ever. Continue reading
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