A dinner with women. I was in the same student-society with them. About midway the evening, I started feeling sad. Was it the excessive amount of wine? Was it the fact that fifteen years had passed in a flash? What had remained of our ambitions and dreams? Why did they laugh those ideals off as […]
moreEvery once in a while, my sister and I go to a concert. This week, we went to Dvorák’s Stabat Mater. I had never heard this Stabat Mater before and so I wasn’t sure what to expect. On taking our seats, I was thrilled to discover how huge the choir was. This was going to […]
moreTwo things I had intended on putting in my new novel, but never did. That she (Leandra) wakes up in the middle of the night. There’s a subtle. pulse-like glow in her room. Brighter, then softer, then brighter again. It comes from beneath her bed. She leans over and sees a firefly. It is on […]
moreI am not really good at groups of people. Whether a volleyball team or a Catholic family. Or 150 five-year-olds. It has nothing to do with the people in the group, neither with the reason for their having become a group. It has more to do with the fact that I tend to experience things […]
moreThere are people who seem to hate it when you tell them, “oh please, this is really important to me.”It’s important the name on the cake is spelled properly. It’s important the heel to that shoe is fixed for a sponsored walk that starts at the crack of dawn. It’s important I make it on […]
moreYou are a child of the universe and you have a right to be here, just as the trees and the birds have a right to be here.Or something like that.Somehow, this sentence immediately sprung to mind the very second I wrote the words 'A note to self'. It's from Max Ehrmann's Desiderata, not literally […]
moreStill on the topic of first days. Like many people, I have gone through quite a few first days in various office environments. On some first days I found myself wondering where to find myself a desk (“should we put you by the coffee-machine?”). Nobody seemed prepared or interested that I was coming. Entering those […]
morePicture this: Summer. Tall grass sprinkled with daisies and snow ladies. Splashes of yellow butter flowers. Bursts of greens. Spotlights of sun.Kids dance in the park. They are practicing something. They are of all ages and heritage. There is also a family: tattoos, beers, electric wheelchair, greasy hair, bare-chested, fat, rowdy. And one big Mastiff. […]
moreThe lesser of two evils. If you’re writing fiction, it’s a powerful tool to confront characters with: two options, both of which are bad. One is only slightly less bad than the other.In real life, it’s no fun to find yourself in that position. No fun at all.For the past three days, my son has […]
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