You know how they say serial killers usually start off hurting animals? Ryan’s idea of a play date was me coming over to watch him hurl bricks at lizards sunbathing on his backyard wall. The kid played sports and had great aim. Ryan’s idea of a play date was me coming over to watch him give baby birds that had fallen out of trees swimming lessons. The kid had a shovel and could dig deep holes fast. Ryan’s idea of […]
Categories: stories
She was a sitcom quality neighbor. Her laughter passed walls, hedges, driveways, and entered our house every night…and we didn’t even have to let her in. Her hair was a massive tree of curls, every branch reaching a different direction, trying to capture the whole of the sun. Her hair tree succeeded. It was jet black. One day, her tree of jet black hair caught a Japanese beetle. I was in the back seat of her van, watching her drive […]
Categories: stories • Tags: Japanese Beetle, laughs, memory, Neighbors
Florescent yellow bralette. Mastectomy. Love and acceptance. I’ve met a woman who is comfortable with her body; showing and sharing all its wrinkled lopsidedness. What made her nudity different than the unclothed women at the spa or the gym? I’m not sure. Maybe that there was a story to go with it. A story about being an overworked chef with children who missed her. Eating “meals” of sauce samplings over the trash can, getting breast cancer and looking forward to […]
Categories: snippets • Tags: breast cancer, chef
hold mystery and grace, showing a sadness and familiar grace…” That’s all I remember of a poem I wrote in elementary school. For years and years and years I wanted a dog. For years and years and years mom and dad gifted me robotic terriers or stuffed dalmatians, but never a real dog. I searched my computer files to see if I’ve scanned that poem. I haven’t. But a couple of better files came up: life stories from my friends. […]
Categories: snippets
“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” This was graffiti in Portland. A saw it. I’m glad he shared.
Categories: snippets
Bogie was a terrier: shaggy, brown, and low. Molly was a labrador: smooth and black like crows. Sibley was a cattle pup: speckled, sweet, and kind. Gumption was a pitbull mix: large, brown, and unrefined. Bogie’s man was a dentist: withered, old, and odd. Molly’s man was a flyfisher: sun speckled, witty, and flawed. Sibley’s man was a puzzle: layered, entertaining, and complex. Gumption’s man was a landscaper: a fan of botany and decks.
We were sitting in silence, fully absorbed in the compliments that had just been exchanged, lightly tracing each other’s waists, when she came down the stairs. “K just told me that he had a journal entry from the night….from the night Mr. Betty was killed.” Her eyes became more reflective and her lower lip quivered. “I’ll never forget that night. Never.” The following seven minutes were spent listening to her recount the barbaric tale of loosing her friend first, and […]
Categories: stories • Tags: death, diary, rooster, This American Life, urban farm, wet pants
Bacon is an old love of mine. Today the love is just a memory, but if I’m reminded about how I once felt, I’ll end up at a food truck, mindfully eating a bacon grilled cheese, paying attention to whether those original feelings still exist. The food truck is in Alameda. The original feelings don’t exist. My taste has changed and I prefer different flavors and textures now. Bacon had its run and it was a good one. I don’t […]
Categories: secrets
Malcolm Godwin’s book, “WHO ARE YOU? 101 WAYS OF SEEING YOURSELF” asks: “How much do you think your racial make-up has contributed to your mental, spiritual, and psychological view of the world? Would you say that it has: ….” Twenty four questions follow. I answered “no” to almost all of them which means, at least in the context of the presentation, that my race hasn’t played a strong part in the formation of my identity. Number 19, though, got a […]
Categories: stories • Tags: conversations, culture, ethnicity, Malcolm Godwin, questions
Categories: sounds • Tags: my heart with you, the rescues
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