This morning, I realized again that, just over two months ago, I turned fifty years old. Not that I make a habit of forgetting my age, but sometimes things hit you, and other times they hit you, you know? Imagine, for instance, thinking one day that you could stand to lose a couple of extra […]
Sports fans of all manner are literally fanatics. Some are just more fanatical than others, and world football hooligans are in their own category. The NFL playoffs are particularly intense. Supporters of teams that didn’t make it are demanding that coaches and general managers be fired or that certain players be traded away or obtained.
Sports Fans as Metaphor Read More »
It was December 21st 1974 and we were settling in around a campfire in the middle of the Superstition Mountains. Twenty-five of us had hiked into this forbidding environment for a class in field ecology sponsored by Arizona State University. Unfortunately, about half of the group had no experience in hiking at all, let alone
The True Reason for the Season Read More »
As fall begins and the daylight wanes, my chickens start molting and stop laying eggs. I haven’t eaten an egg in weeks, but nature is seasonal. Earlier in the year, the peaches ripened and we ate, cooked, and canned as many as we could. Later it was frozen beans and pickled cucumbers, but what all
Flocking to Freedom Read More »
A typical conversation with my mother these days goes something like this: She will say: “Where’s my purse? Do you have my purse?” And I will say: “It’s over on your dresser. See?” I point. “Is my checkbook in it?” “No, you don’t have a checkbook anymore.” “Well how do I pay bills? I have
from Conversations with My Mother Read More »
Being a Short Treatise on the Prevalence of Steampunk, or Neo-Victorian Retro-Futurism in Modern Society and Its Associated Philosophical, Social, and Artistic Implications Take three parts science fiction creativity, two parts mechanical ingenuity, and one part aesthetic sensibility. Stir delicately, strain through late 19th Century technology and fashion, and viola: Steampunk. Put simply, the Steampunk
Of Cogs and Culture: The Steampunk Renaissance Read More »