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Best Laid Plans (the more things change. . .)
Long ago, when I was a department head, I kept my sanity (more or less) by writing satire in the early mornings, as a way to inoculate myself against the day ahead. One result was BEST LAID PLANS, which some of you may have read when The Fantasist published it a few years ago. I had thoughts…
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Estuary (writing while walking)
Knitted into the plot of the novel manuscript I’m working on (which I won’t summarize here) is an estuary restoration project. I’ve drawn on a couple of preserves I’ve visited in recent years to think about what the imagined place might look like, what it is trying to accomplish. Recently, I hiked through the South Slough…
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‘Tis the season
Back to school means back to satire. So much to choose from—my own contribution is BEST LAID PLANS. Can I admit this is the piece of “academic writing” closest to my heart? Surely the one that’s been most fun to share. Some of the research behind the story. . . less fun. Hijinks and lowjinks…
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The Common #21
I’m so pleased to have a story, “Misdirection,” in this issue of The Common. Now available for pre-order, digital editions available from April 26.
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Duct Tape Obelisk 2
I wrote about the duct-taped obelisk, subsequently restored, last fall (Duct Tape Obelisk). It’s real—or it was—and it gave me a springboard or an excuse or a pretext to think about birthdays in cemeteries and restoration and rebellion and loss. Some of which made it into a short story, “Give that Girl a Wilson Cigar!”,…
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Duct Tape Obelisk
There’s a cemetery I sometimes walk through on my way to work, or on my way home. They’re mostly historic graves, though I think interments still take place from time to time. It’s quiet, with tall trees, a little poison oak, a caretaker’s trailer, and cigarette butts ankle deep at the entrance closest to campus,…
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Resolution
I don’t know if I’m afraid of heights, or afraid of getting down from heights–of not getting down–but when the guide said, it looks like rain, let’s start on the roof, I followed her up. Not wanting to miss anything, ready to add to my photo collection, eager to take in every nook and cranny…