Her paw print arrived today. Bastards. Just about the time I could get through three hours at a time without crying; just about the time I no longer bowed in reverence to the sacred places where she loved to sleep; just about the time I’d laughed really hard in days, I opened the card from the vet who put my dog down. There was Libby’s paw print. Punch to the gut. Damn doctor. She didn’t even warn me. A sudden gasp caught in my throat and then came the heaving … [Read more...]
Hecho En Mexico, Well, Not So Much
May 13, 2017 By
The comedy of errors continues in my path to higher education. Two years ago, almost to the day—I graduated after a 42-year summer break, from the University of New Mexico with my B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication. Seemed fitting, since I’d been a journalist for lo these many years, with a few political press gigs, corporate communications and a truck load of video production dumped in, just for good measure, and, well, better pay. I was super proud. I felt … [Read more...]
Seeking Clarity, Maybe Even Peace
November 23, 2015 By
**** Hello All, I have been away. Lots of life to attend to. I am beginning to make my way back to doing what I really love --writing and corresponding with you. There's a partial explanation to my absence contained in this blog post. I have also been busy working on a novel (among other creative projects....) I've missed so much my interaction with you, though. I would just like to say thanks for caring, paying attention, reading, sending prayers and love for our … [Read more...]
Dude, Where’s My Graduation Pic?
May 16, 2015 By
Flying back from New Mexico last Sunday relishing my newfound recognition of slip faulting, the product of my recently completed Geology 111 class, which constituted the “Final Four” credits that had been standing between me and my Bachelor’s Degree for lo these many decades, I was one proud slamma-mamma-jamma (not so much a summa-cumma-Lawdy) college graduate. Yep, 42 years after an academically challenged 18-year-old first crossed the threshold of an English 101 class … [Read more...]
Boatload of Dreamers
November 18, 2014 By
Today is my eldest son, Nathan’s birthday and this year, we have a lot to celebrate. He just sold his first screenplay out in Los Angeles. Yep, Hollywood, the real deal -- writer, director, agents, lawyers, “my people will call your people,” that kind of screenplay. Sounds glamorous, right? Of course it does. And while it touched off a flurry of coast-to-coast woo-hoo texts among our little family that could, with every imaginable emoji following behind it, (my three … [Read more...]
Sisters in Ink
October 21, 2014 By
The young woman in the ladies room was washing her armpits with a damp paper towel. She tossed it in the trash, then waved her hand in front of the sensor, twice. Double load. She tore it off, ran warm water over the paper, wrung it out, and swabbed her underarms again. Helluva time for your deodorant to fail. By the time I came out of the stall, she had put her houndstooth blazer back on and was reapplying her lipstick. Confidence restored. It’s been a long time … [Read more...]
Jet Fighters or National Parks – You Make the Call
September 27, 2014 By
How could I have been so disdainful? Almost hateful. Normally, I’d just gun it, all 427 miles, like being forced to sit through a PowerPoint before you get the free steak dinner from the timeshare pitchman. Who could blame me? I’m spoiled. My life has been rooted in some stunning landscapes. They don’t call New Mexico the “Land of Enchantment” for nothing. I have lived in Albuquerque, Lake Tahoe, Key West, San Francisco and Virginia Beach. Coastal Carolina? Oh, … [Read more...]
Cue the Puppies
September 15, 2014 By
Behold the gatekeepers. The Slice Literary Writers’ Conference I attended in Brooklyn last weekend proved to be an eye opener. It was a privilege honestly, to see and hear first-hand from the real deal in this moving target we call publishing. I refer to them as gatekeepers, not to be churlish, but simply to acknowledge that the agents, editors, publishers and publicists, sitting on panels with their names on poster board table tents in front of them, constituted a … [Read more...]
Be a Badass
August 30, 2014 By
Sunrise, August 27, 2014, eastbound U.S. Highway 70, 83MPH en route to Indianapolis and I am a fucking race car driver. It was the music. I was jammin’ out to Crossroads, full blast. Full blast and feeling fine for no apparent reason. Hell, I was on my way to a video shoot, with four hours on the road, coming and going. But with the sun coming up over church steeples and countless rows of corn flashing by at the speed of, well, 83MPH, and Clapton blaring from my … [Read more...]
Look Up, Look Down, Be Silent
August 15, 2014 By
Thousands passed daily, unaware. They were busy. Busy with life, busy on their cell phones, senses plugged by earbuds or constant chatter, white noise, windows up, closed off, busy. Their loss. How could they not notice the unfolding of a reality show above them, the inspiration of which I have not experienced in a long time. If ever there was something uplifting it was the daily episode of Life in the Nest of the Mississippi Kite. For several days in late July, a … [Read more...]
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