Tuesday, February 23, 2021 This is a partial list of things I want to do, but probably won’t, so I will write about fictionally so that I’ll feel like I did. Not a complete list but I will continue to add to it as I think of them. 1. a bookstore called LMNO First of all, it needs a lazy cat with no interest in the outside world other than lounging about and being stroked by strangers. It would be a mix of new and used books, but a curated collection of just the best in all sorts of...
I am sometimes a little despondent that I will unlikely ever be able to do certain things, achieve certain dreams, or accomplish any number of secret wishes or desires. Most things, at least the things I dream about, are not really outside of my grasp but are simply unlikely due to my circumstances and unwillingness to change them. Either because of laziness, earlier life choices, or lack of enough will, I find there are many things I may not do or experience. But I thought of something the...
This is the beginning of a Novel/novella which I am trying to decide if I will continue to write or not. It’s nowhere near finished. One No one remembers exactly when the taco truck rolled into town, which is odd because normally that’s the kind of thing that kicks up quite a stir in a small town like Cape May. It was 2020 though, and as you may recall the country was in the middle of a shit storm that seemed to be pulling the country apart, and rumors were flying that murder hornets had...
IN A COUNTRY THAT CLAIMS TO FEAR GOD, what sort of society have we created that allows someone to freeze to death outside, because there is no room for them at the inn Sunday, February 14, 2021 In the 1990s, an SNL skit loosely titled “The Roxbury Guys” featured Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, often with a guest host included, rocking their heads and dancing to the tune of “What Is Love” by Haddaway. It was popular enough as a skit to be spun into the unfortunate 1998 movie “Night at the...
How conspiracy theories became bigger than God and ultimately hijacked the Republican Party Thursday, February 11, 2021 Let’s be honest about this, that’s why your church, and your way of life, are dying. You talk as if you had a big God, but you don’t act like it. If you had an all-powerful God on your side, you wouldn’t be so fearful of change. If you had an Old Testament God who protected His flock while scattering His enemies before you, you wouldn’t need so many guns. If you believed we...
We lose our nerve as we age, there is no getting around it. Not you, you say. Maybe so. Momentum is a wonderful thing and if you’re already moving, it’s not so hard to keep it going. If you’re a hardcore traveler and you just keep traveling, it’s probably easier to survive on forward momentum. But if and when we stop, and sit down, say for a few decades, it’s really hard to start running again. I was never naturally adventurous, even though I’ve done a lot of far-out things. I had to...
JOURNAL 2.01.21 We have a problem in America. It’s probably not what you think it is but is likely derivative of what I think it is, which is that people don’t read. Not that people can’t read, which is a different issue, but that people don’t read. They are no engaged with or inspired by words and language and ideas. A preponderance of America lacks the intelligence, empathy, and curiosity to learn, explore and sympathize, through the simple act of reading. They lack the desire to travel and...
Journal 1/17/21 The feeling comes over me every so often, like a wave. It can happen several times in a week, or once every several weeks. I can even go weeks and months without thinking about it at all. But eventually, it will find me, at the strangest, most inopportune time, unexpectedly and suddenly. An intense moment of sheer panic there is no meaning to life, no lasting point to any of it, and yet somehow I’ve managed to waste most of it so far and am certainly frittering away whatever I...
When I think of my favorite writers, I don’t spend a lot of time imagining them outside. Some of my favorite writers, and comedians, seem to be more of what Jim Gaffigan calls “indoorsy.” I think of David Sedaris, Calvin Trillin, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Bryson, Malcolm Gladwell, and Anne Lamott and none of them write long tomes about the great outdoors. John Muir they are not. If anything, they tend to live indoors, often in or near cities, and talk about their fear, hatred or general distaste for...
The dictionary defines magic as “an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source.” I think of writing as a kind of magic. A collection of charms, spells, incantations and rites that I’ve been developing since I discovered the power of language and realized it could used as a tool to unlock untold worlds and reveal hidden treasures. A lot of people, probably myself included, most often think of writing and writers, as those who write novels and aspire to tell stories...
Writer | Journalist | Storyteller
