Archive for July, 2008
- Harry
Some years ago — more than I care to admit — I was a freshman at the local community college, sitting in a Composition 101 class, listening to a professor tell how one should think before committing words to paper. He carefully explored the logical nature of expository writing, explaining in fine detail how a thesis statement should be […]
29 July 2008- Cephalopod Ghost
Lately I am plagued by cephalopods. They frequent my dreams, appear in the literature I am reading, and pursue me on the Web. I feel myself being wrapped in their tentacles and sucked toward their beak-like mouths. But we can talk about that another time. Right now I’d like you to picture a seawall on […]
26 July 2008- To My Creditors
Gentlemen:
24 July 2008
Good news! I’ve just this day received email from the Nigerian Senate informing me that I have been chosen along with six others to receive a $500,000 stipend from the Nigerian government. This mystifies me, because I never contacted the Nigerian government concerning a writer’s grant, and I am further puzzled by the Brazilian origin […]- What’s Goin’ On?
As a general rule, I dislike entries explaining how a Web site has changed, especially when there is technical information I don’t understand — which is most of the time. I even loathe it when it’s me doing it. So today I’ll pretend it’s a Marvin Gaye song and get it over within the three-minute time slot […]
22 July 2008- Invisoman
When the police arrived at Macy’s, Invisoman was sweeping up pieces of broken glass from the floor of the bridal department with a whisk broom. Stark naked and staggering, he had careened into a shelf filled with Waterford stemware and sent thousands of dollars of goblets, champagne flutes, wine glasses, water glasses and sherry glasses […]
20 July 2008- Announcement: CMS Change
A very recent change in CMS has temporarily thrown off search engine accuracy — something we believe will be remedied over time. If you arrived here expecting different content, please enter your search in the form to the right and you should find what you were seeking. We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for visiting […]
18 July 2008- Travelogue
His hand rests on her bare knee. Tires hiss on the pavement as the little car hurtles along the highway past mile after mile of greenery in the rain. In a broad pasture somewhere south of Hopland, she sees hundreds of sheep grazing in a grey-brown flock, their heads tucked down against the weather, their […]
18 July 2008- Sound
On any given day, I listen to a lot of music and my tastes follow a winding, eclectic route I am not certain can be properly defined—but I believe most people are similar, and few are locked into a certain groove after reaching maturity. Musical categories seem to exist mainly as marketing tools, while music […]
14 July 2008- Waterboarding Christopher Hitchens
Earlier this year, Neocon apologist Christopher Hitchens, a defender of the practice of waterboarding, was challenged to undergo the experience himself. To his credit, Mr. Hitchens accepted, and has chronicled the experience in the August issue of Vanity Fair in an article entitled, “Believe Me, It’s Torture.” His conclusion?
10 July 2008
I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for […]- Dissatisfaction
Dissatisfaction nibbles at the edges of reality until, finally, something snaps and change comes. For months I have been unhappy with my werewolf skin. It was drab, badly constructed, and it nagged at me every time I opened my book of days. But it was also legible and simple and—best of all—I didn’t have to […]
10 July 2008
