Riding the Wave Archives - US Represented

Drive Like Everyone Is Out to Get You

Eric Stephenson — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 08:48:11 +0000

The other day, I passed a crash in my neighborhood that was clogging traffic. Some guy in a company truck had run a red light and smashed into a school bus loaded with 37 kids. Several children went to the hospital. Luckily, none of them were seriously injured. A slew of reporters were scattered throughout the area, interviewing parents, children, and police officers. Dozens of other onlookers thronged the intersection

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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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Lana

Eric Stephenson — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 14:00:37 +0000

Lana plucked a grilled cheese sandwich out of the pan and noticed she had burned one side. She dropped it onto a plate with the burned side down and carried it over to Mark at the kitchen table. “Here you go, babe.” She studied his receding hairline and thought about the night she first met him. He was prowling a Serbian nightclub, looking for an easy one-night stand, and there

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On Why We Are Willing to Die

Eric Stephenson — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 08:03:15 +0000

Several years ago, New York Jets safety Jamal Adams told a group of Jets fans, “If I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field.” In response, Green Bay Packers tight end Martellus Bennett tweeted, “Look football is great but I ain’t dying for this shit. Lol.” This begs the question of why so many people will gladly die for country, family, religion, politics, humanitarian ideals,

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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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