Riding the Wave Archives - US Represented

Ocean Beach

Eric Stephenson — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 08:58:22 +0000

Moose rose from his stool in Mother’s Saloon at last call and tossed four twenties on the bar, not knowing how much he owed and not caring. He strolled out the front door and onto Ocean Beach. He peeled off his t-shirt and tossed it in the sand, then lumbered toward the water in his shorts and sandals. Thirty feet from the shoreline, he laid down, inhaled the salty night

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The Dream of the Gray Whale

Eric Stephenson — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 08:34:52 +0000

Sean was fed up with his job as an assistant manager at the local Dinostop service station. He stared through the window at the big purple dinosaur statue in the yard next to the gas pumps. His boss was skimming money from the safe every morning and doctoring the paperwork to make it look like the assistant managers were always coming up short on their daily balances. To make matters

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Tarkovsky and Stalker: In the Zone

Eric Stephenson — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 08:16:49 +0000

Andrei Tarkovsky once said, “It is a mistake to talk about the artist looking for his subject. In fact, the subject grows within him like a fruit and begins to demand expression. It is like childbirth.” This means that art springs from somewhere other than the controlling elements of the conscious, rational mind. In such a realm, film often reflects slow meditation minus tranquility. In Stalker, a man dedicates his life to guiding others

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Ten Reasons Why Writers Should Publish Regularly

Eric Stephenson — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 08:33:37 +0000

“Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!” Mr. Micawber, David Copperfield Charles Dickens often generated 90 pages of quality text a month, and he published novels like Great Expectations chapter by chapter in weekly periodicals. No doubt, Dickens was a rare breed, but he set a standard that every serious writer should consider. There’s no point in being a writer if no one reads your work. Even Dickinson and Kafka

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Lazarus Revisited

Eric Stephenson — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 19:45:48 +0000

Walt O’Bryan had just finished a three-day conference on education theory in Anaheim that was long on theory and short on substance, but he didn’t care. The only reason he attended was to get away from home for awhile and take in L.A. culture. It was always good to look around a little and see what else the world had to offer. On Saturday morning after most of the other

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It’s All Good!

Eric Stephenson — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 09:00:11 +0000

Dennis woke up lying face-first in a field at noon. His car sat twenty feet away with the driver’s door open, engine running, and headlights on. A half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels stood upright on the ground directly between him and the car, and the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” was playing on the radio. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there, nor could he remember what he

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