Something I’ve Noticed
The less time I spend with my family, the better I feel about myself. Some people will understand this as a problem with me.
Visiting Mrs. Rakefield at the Hospital
Nothing Peggy says makes sense anymore. For instance, at the picnic, we’re all there in the park, the blanket, we’ve got coolers and tote bags. The blanket is coming up in the wind. Peggy has a couple of small bags, just enough not to attract notice about how little she’s carrying. But I notice. She …
You Are Not Stephen King
There’s an Apple productivity blogger and podcaster named David Sparks, who seems sincerely to have all his shit tied up neatly, as far as personal and professional productivity systems go. The impression one gets is that just by waking up in the morning, he sets off an automated chain of scripts …
Parable for the Perpetuation of Intergenerational Trauma
So afraid of bogeymen, we have not noticed the monster we have become.
No, Seriously, You Contain Multitudes
Instead of seeking consistency in yourself or others — because we’re made of countless parts and those parts have parts and all those parts are capable of relating to each other — try to find and nurture emotionally safe harbors where all those parts can, when and where and with whom appropriate, …
In Writing, Sensory Detail Serves Scenic Detail
Sensory detail for its own sake is boring. Nobody can reconstruct precisely what a character looks like from an exhaustive sensory description, and also it doesn’t matter. It’s boring to read. Sensory detail should always serve scenic detail. Build the scene, not the character or setting. Sometimes …
It’s Too Late
Nice try, but just saying “late capitalism” doesn’t make it so. Most historical epochs aren’t labeled in real time. Maybe we are living in “late capitalism,” but I’d bet most deployers of that phrase don’t know that it was coined around or before World War I. In 2013, I started a daily email …