Stories and Amateur Pasty-Crafting
Basement Missive From the Frozen North: I estimated that I need at least 17,000 words in the month of January to get somewhere near the end of this draft of the novel, though based on where the story's moving this week, it will probably be slightly higher. To reach this goal, I determined I need … Continue reading Weekly Writing Goals
During the first trimester of Sophomore English we read Haruki Murakami's "The Seventh Man." This was my first experience with Murakami and I was hooked. I turned to my local public library system (shout out to Great River Regional), and found the audiobook of The Strange Library. In this tale, a young man returns some library … Continue reading Murakami Leads to Burton and Burton Leads Beyond
Happy New Year and Huzzah! I’m writing this at the tail end of New Year’s Day, hunkered down in my basement. Outside, temperatures continue to fluctuate somewhere between zero and -20. Thankful for a functioning furnace, wool socks, and a splash of scotch in hot honey-lemon water. Last day of winter break, and I’d be … Continue reading A New Year’s Basement Missive: January Goals and Stewardship
Wood smoke and birdsong drift through the open windows of our home, and I’m transported a short jaunt back in time to a cabin on the outskirts of Fall Creek, WI.
There’s nothing incredibly insightful in the following narrative. Just a what’s what of the last day of school. At 10:30 this morning, the final bell rang, and students fled my classroom and subsequently the school, sparing no glances back. I couldn’t help but picture that final bell scene in Linklater’s Dazed and Confused: students en … Continue reading Last Day
Hello there. I’m penning this missive from a survival bunker deep beneath the earth’s surface, surrounded by massive stockpiles of freeze-dried and canned goods. Okay, that’s a fib, and a poor one at that. Truthfully, I’m in my well-lit, finished basement, plunking away at a keyboard, whilst sipping a mug of Sleepy-Time Tea (with echinacea), … Continue reading Election: The Aftermath
When I was younger, I brought books with me everywhere I went. In the fourth grade, when all of my friends were playing baseball, and I thought it would be a wise decision to join up, I soon discovered that I was one of the worst players on the team. I played a lot of … Continue reading Flashlights in Dark Rooms: Conquering Fear Through Reading
America, I think, is about poor people playing music and poor people sharing food and poor people dancing, even when everything else in their lives is so desperate, and so dismal that it doesn't seem that there should be any room for music, any extra food, or any extra energy for dancing. And people can … Continue reading “America is about […] Poor People”
They slept under a tree near the overpass, side by side on top of August's plastic sheet. Kirsten slept fitfully, aware each time she woke of the emptiness of the landscape, the lack of people and animals and caravans around her. Hell is the absence of the people you long for (144). --Emily St. John Mandel, Station … Continue reading “They Slept Under a Tree…”
Just finished watching the first episode of AMC's Preacher. Initially, I was a bit conflicted. Beyond the character names and types, it didn't follow the plot line of Ennis and Dillon's comic. But the more I watched, the more into I got. Realized that the show is telling its own story. It's not going to … Continue reading AMC’s Preacher: Episode 1
Purdy Good 