essay | essay
Jul.05.2009
I have this fantasy, the indulgence of which I resist, due in part to the impracticality of it, but also, and mostly out of a general distaste for inviting potential violence upon my person. It only comes to mind once a year really, on this day in fact, as cities and towns across the United States...
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May.31.2009
For a group that regularly decries what they view as "minority" whining, and the politics of victimization, white conservatives are demonstrating a penchant for the unhinged histrionics of victimhood, virtually unparalleled in modern times. Facing a nation led by a black man, with a black...
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May.27.2009
That's the question I pose in my latest blog entry...and I wonder how many other writers out there will empathize?
After spending all day in my office, staring at a screen over-flowing with words, how do I summon the energy to pick up a book only to be confronted by, y'know, more WORDS.
Pop by my...
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May.20.2009
Hi all,
I just wanted to say that I've had an essay about my cancer and meeting my wife picked up by MSNBC.com.
Here's the link -- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30748092/
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May.11.2009
Envision the following, if you can.
Imagine that a group of black youth were to descend upon a college town, take to an open field and proceed to smoke pot--lots of it--just as they had announced they would, at the very time they had promised to be there. Thousands of them, lighting up, virtually...
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May.11.2009
Laura Van Den Berg, writer and assistant editor of the online journal Memorious, has writen an excellent essay about publishing in literary magazines, The Effort Pays Off, in The Review Review, an online review of literary journals (which is new to me but seems a wonderful resource that I must read...
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May.04.2009
In ancient times, when plagues or widespread epidemics would descend upon a community, it was somewhat common for those in the vicinity of the crisis to offer up a sacrifice, presumably to the gods, in order that the problem might dissipate. Often, the sacrifice would be a lamb (thus, the phrase...
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May.02.2009
Dad sits staring at his plate this Thanksgiving Day, a stubborn tightness showing around his mouth.
I can't believe my father won’t eat. Here is a man who came home every evening from work and cut himself a seven-ounce slab of Safeway-brand cheddar cheese -- the cheap kind, where the second...
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Apr.24.2009
As a general rule, one should regard with a mountain of salt anything to be found on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Committed to the promotion of right-wing economics and social policy, and unburdened by such mundane requirements as fact checking, the writers of the Journal's daily...
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Apr.23.2009
Dear Friend:
I’d like to let you know that the Spring issue of Ms. is just about to hitthe newsstands, featuring an essay I wrote—“The Perfect Pantomime”—abouthow eating disorders are wordless cries for relief.
As I write: “Just think of an infant in pain or discomfort. She has nowords, so how,...
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