Here is my second story for the 2020 12 stories in 12 months challenge. The prompt was “For Hire” and the word count was 1,000. This one was a bit of a struggle for me. My January story was about an unemployed guy, and, even though that’s what the prompt prompted for me, I didn’t…
A new Gallup poll was published (hey, look at that, just in time for the fourth of July) that says that American patriotism has hit a record low. That’s really no surprise. Most Americans do not support Trump and are rightly embarrassed by his administration. It’s hard to be proud of something that’s an active…
Given how hard it is to talk about, and write about, mental health, it seems like fiction, stories, might be the best way to get people to understand. So much of the way we talk about it is metaphorical and impressionistic after all. But I’ve noticed a dearth of good fiction that centers mental health….
Well, we’ve come to the end. This stave is really more of a coda than anything else. It is here to show us the results and nothing more. Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He is happy and friendly and truly sorry for the way he acted before. He reconciles with his nephew…
For the first time in my life, I’m an undecided voter. I always wondered about undecided voters. They are talked about every election, but, until now, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. I’ve always wondered what they are like and what makes them undecided. Is there something wrong with them? Are they not paying attention? …
I’ve read a bunch of retrospectives about Deep Space Nine over the last couple of years. They agree that it’s the best of the Star Trek series, and have various reasons why it’s superior. They usually point to either the grittier tone, the use of serialization, or the Dominion War as the main reason for…
I know, I know, smoking is bad for you. It yellows teeth, it makes your breath and hair stink, it causes cancer and other diseases, and all other manner of problems. It also looks cool as hell. That’s not an endorsement of smoking, but just an acknowledgement that some of the coolest people (see above)…
One of my jobs is at a community college as a writing tutor. It’s mostly a fun job, but about once a week I will get a student whose problem is, “I don’t know how to start.” What the students are describing is writer’s block. Luckily, writer’s block is not a problem I’ve experienced. But…
Chapter VI has always felt to me like the end of the beginning. Up until now, Tolkien has been setting the stage, establishing the characters and putting the plot in motion. After this chapter we will get into the real meat of the story. There is a lot of action in this chapter. Bilbo finds…
A bowler hat, a broken guitar string, and a jelly sandwich are three things that don’t seem to have much in common at first glance. Yet, there is a string that binds them. They are all things that make me sad. And what’s more is they are all representative of categories that make me sad….
