a blournal
I’ve been thinking a lot about morality, as I do. In the wake of Moby Dick, and in the throes of both Kerouac’s personal journals and Nabokov’s written interviews, I’ve a heap of rich fodder (thanks Gramp, Nate, and stoop). Jackie says: “To me, ‘the thing’ is that Shrouded Stranger I dreamt once. It is […]
Read More Friday PhilosophyTwo books lay within reach of my bed-grasp: P.G. Wodehouse’s Bachelors Anonymous and selected writings of Thoreau. It is a potent combination. I drift into slumber with everything figured out, theoretically. I think Thoreau is great. In fact, I’m going to quote him in a few sentences. The thing about him, though, is that every […]
Read More Morning PoliticsI had a professor in college who taught Victorian fiction. Under a gay beard and wool baret, he resembled an owl. He embodied a supercilious air, emboldened by a house in the woods and a once reference to him in a salmon colored European financial paper. He’d developed a psychosomatic suck through his front teeth, […]
Read More Allegory of the MaleI ordered a number ten lunch special from Coco Roco this afternoon. The Fifth Avenue Peruvian outfit appeared clear of the one employee who had text messaged me inappropriately after my first take-out order. They weren’t the most delectable Peruvian steak and vegetables, but who am I to complain? Anyway, instead of the young lady […]
Read More Mind Reading and MeThe sky was blue on the day my brother and I lit the dumpster on fire. We were done with school and up to no good in the time before work. We were responsible then for half of a paper route each, which ran down Main Street in rural Easthampton, Massachusetts. If you’ll excuse the […]
Read More Memories, meet PhilosophyRiveted though you may be by the story of Tinnitus Thompkinson, I feel he has become a bit of a bore. The details of his life will come to you as they come to me. Once I do feel his gentle urging, we will enjoy his introduction to the Christian Mafia together. One simply cannot […]
Read More Tin Takes a Break(continued from below) Tin walked across the street and picked up the box. It was heavier than he expected, especially because the man in the apron carried it, and others like it, with such ease. He turned and saw George staring at him with owly eyes from the open doorway. Tin stepped back inside the […]
Read More Tin Hooks the Big OneOnce upon a time, there lived a man named Tinnitus Tompkinson. He was a simple man whose right ear rang acutely with tinnitus. It sometimes caused him to react more severely than he might have otherwise. Normally very contained, he was known to fly into fits of quivering rage. It was a rainy Wednesday when […]
Read More Tin Gets CannedThat my copy of Walden once belonged to my grandfather, a compulsive collector of literary rarities might explain the bizarre inclusion of its final, apocryphal chapter. Titled, “Walden Parties” it explores some of Thoreau’s baser iniquities and his exploits with drinking buddies at the pond on some wintry Saturday nights. Here are a few excerpts: […]
Read More Walden PartiesSam’s mom asks that we leave the playground no later than 4, because he’s got to get started on homework. But a weekend teasing moderate temperatures gave way to tee-shirt weather today, and I couldn’t justify whisking the cheery lad from his kickball game. As the minutes passed and the hoards began to dwindle, the […]
Read More outside the blog
Being Thayer 