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Half-Empty Pages: December 2009
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Sunday, December 27, 2009. I’ve been watching the snow come down all day. It’s not a hard snow, just a steady stream of fat flakes drifting diagonally through the air and piling up in a fluffly white ground cover. This is the same storm that caused blizzards to the south and west of Chicago. Here, though, just a nice, steady snowfall. Here are two photos, one taken six days after surgery and one taken today, 17 days later. My right knee still looks bad, ...
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Half-Empty Pages: November 2008
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Sunday, November 9, 2008. I keep having to slap myself when I hear the words “president-elect Barack Obama.” It’s hard to believe. Tuesday night was like some kind of breakthrough therapy session in which I discovered I don’t have to stay in this abusive presidential relationship I’ve suffered through for the past eight years. I can demand better. We can demand better. Most people who know me know I wasn’t a big Obama supporter. George W. Bush, the p...
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Half-Empty Pages: The Myth of the Golden Turd
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Thursday, August 20, 2009. The Myth of the Golden Turd. I'm glad I went to journalism school when I did, and learned from the people I did and have had the career I've had. Because with people like Rebecca Maitland and Karen Zurawski. Around, newspapers will be dead in a decade. And when the corpse is buried I'll be glad to still be above ground, knowing I did it the Right Way. Excuse my language, but this story stinks. This isn't rocket science; it's jo...
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Half-Empty Pages: June 2009
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Sunday, June 7, 2009. I often complain I never write anything, but that’s not true. I write emails and instant messages all day, every day. Some of my favorite turns of the phrase and most insightful analysis have been contained in brief missives I’ve tossed off in the minutes between projects at work. It’s when I sit down to deliberately compose something that I get fouled up and stuck. What’s up with that? Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). On the Writing Life.
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Half-Empty Pages: September 2008
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Thursday, September 11, 2008. I remember those first images we saw when we turned on the TV that morning after hearing vague and conflicting news reports on the public radio station, WNYC, as we prepared to leave for work and school. And I remember immediately thinking we had to get our cameras and stop at the Brooklyn Promenade before getting on the subway. Which we did. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Offerings to the Muse. On the Writing Life. Arcata Eye ...
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Half-Empty Pages: October 2008
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Wednesday, October 15, 2008. Getting on the Bike. By almost any objective measure the “gold standard” of writing about what it’s like to ride a motorcycle is Hunter S. Thompson’s 1965 essay, “Midnight on the Coast Highway.”. I am still a novice at this riding thing, having only started this past April. I took the Rider’s Edge. The Sportster is considered by Harley enthusiasts to be a “small” bike. Its engine, at 73 cubic inches (1200 cubi...However ̶...
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Half-Empty Pages: August 2008
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Over at TOS On Tour. My former boss and a damn good editor and journalist is posting a must-read diary about his trip to South America. He’s in southern Peru now, amid stunning poverty and the physical destruction wrought by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake on Aug. 15, 2007. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see this as a competition. Poverty is poverty, no matter where it is or how well it is hidden. TOS’s descrip...Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
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Half-Empty Pages: Mackenzie
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Sunday, February 1, 2009. Mackenzie: In the world November 1994 – January 31, 2009 … and forever in our hearts. 8220;A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”. 8220;No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.”. Just a thing. But here in my lap was love and life. Mackenzie offered three...
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Half-Empty Pages: February 2009
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Sunday, February 1, 2009. Mackenzie: In the world November 1994 – January 31, 2009 … and forever in our hearts. 8220;A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”. 8220;No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.”. Just a thing. But here in my lap was love and life. Mackenzie offered three...
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Half-Empty Pages: G-Rod’s defense ... uh, strategy?
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Ruminations on writing, life and the writing life. Monday, January 26, 2009. G-Rod’s defense . uh, strategy? In my 15-plus years as a reporter I have never fully understood the thought process that leads to “no comment” reactions from people, companies or organizations in the news. I’ve always maintained that when a reporter calls or visits someone, it’s usually for one of three reasons:. 1 To ask about something unpleasant pertaining to the subject. Proceeding, as well, saying his client was ignoring le...
