I open at random one of my favorite books of Nonfiction, Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands. Page 41: Half and Half There was a muchacha who lived near my house. La gente del pueblo talked about her being una de las ortras, “of the Others.” They said that for six months […]
Beth Kephart: It’s one thing to take a measuring tape to a set of architectural blueprints and announce a series of dimensions. It’s quite another to think and write of a house proportionately. What was small and what was large, and in relationship to what, precisely? Think of the work […]
“Installed in the moment. Awash with history.” That’s what writer Beth Kephart says about our childhood homes. And it is the line pushing me to post about this topic. A quick authorial note, I did not just happen on the article. But our instructor, and fellow doctoral student at […]
When I was a kid, I dreamed of being the main character of a video game. The game was about saving a princess, helping helpless villagers, and destroying the evil green-faced bad guy, who would stop at nothing to gain absolute power. He was powerful enough as is, but he […]
Circumscribe, v.1. restrict something within limits.2. [geometry] draw a figure round another, touching it at points but not cutting it.Origin: Latin circum “around” + scribere “to write” I. Just as the word describe comes from the Latin “to write down,” let us reconsider a similar word, largely ignored […]
I feel like someone has to slap me across the back of my head to get me to write about this. My eyes shoot for the horizon, yet I look down at my feet. I can only see the here and now, can’t imagine some other later, just yet. […]
Feel free to fail. You are climbing over a stumbling block. That’s one. What are other, recent life lessons? Some silly things. I feel like I am holding a hot ginger tea and wearing pajamas as I explain things or muse, like some youtubers I saw recently. But on […]
Today, as I write, is Good Friday. Can we do an hour of meditation on good and evil? Yes. Let’s start one way, turn the other, then conclude somewhere in the middle. “Good.” My favorite word is a simple word: good. I love good, I like good, […]
You have to be a poet to do just about anything. You have to be a poet to translate another’s words. Only poets care enough about language to clearly convey one person’s thought to a different person’s understanding. Any other type of translator will blur the message. The best […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 642. “What Would You Like to Learn on Your Own?” I would like to learn to be humble. I would like to learn to be less vain. I would like to learn how […]
(Image pulled from Adrian Schoonmaker’s blog) In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 629. “Why Should We Care About Events in Other Parts of the World?” We should care for one reason: Connection. It’s too easy to shut […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 618. “What Would You Risk Your Life For?” In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis writes that there are two ways to live: as if every moment were your first, or as if at […]
(Image from Miniature Photography) In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 613. “How Green Are You?” Yesterday we lost a plant. His friend the Golden Devil and I mourned with our fingers in the soil. Dolefully we entered a […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 606. “Why Do We Love Watching Animal Videos So Much?” It’s confusing. I don’t know why we love watching them, for many reasons? I don’t know why people upload them, to share? […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 597. “How Important Is It to Have a Driver’s License?” Like super doper. But for real. This is America. And one must learn to drive a car, and one must have (no […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 596. “What Are the Best Things You’ve Acquired Secondhand?” Usually gifts, used books, and hand me down clothes, the miscellaneous trinkets that surround my everyday, like, Two angels, one straw and one […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 589. “What’s Your Sunday Routine?” Sundays are holy. Sundays are sacred. Sundays are my favorite days. Friends call me disciplined. My family talks about my routines. But to me, I just find […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 544. “What are the Most Memorable Meals You’ve Ever Had?” Off the top of my head, and from bottom of my gut, two meals: 1, the saddest dinner of my life; and 2, […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 526. “Do You Like to Exercise?” “Yo, bro, can we work in a set with you?” “Yuh, jus give me a sec.” We’re in the downtown YMCA stepping down from the […]
In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.” 513. “What’s Your Favorite T-Shirt?” Ode to my favorite shirt: “Follow me to EL COSMICO,” it says, and features some Hindu divinities (Vishnu with a pair of Laxmis). They ride an orange and […]