Strange Little Collecting Project

Sometimes I think that the critical part of my brain is killing the creative part. It’s like the more analytical I become, the less likely I am to take risks and try something innovative or different. Anything I create now is viewed through an analytical lens in real time, and so most of my writing projects never get off the ground. I probably have 800 files in my computer or on flash drives that are no more than 500 words. Sometimes they are just a sentence. I would have an idea about something I wanted to write, but then I would get wrapped up in the “how” or “why” of the whole thing; before I could stop myself, I would completely lose the “what” that brought me there in the first place. Analysis creates indecision creates stagnation. Barf. It wasn’t always this way. I started writing short stories when I was in the 3rd grade. I still have most of them in an old Five-Star notebook and anytime I do serious cleaning, I get side-tracked. I can’t stop myself from re-reading al...

Dear Tall People that Frequent Live Music Events without Stadium Seating, Please do me a favor. (Who am I you might ask? I am a stranger, but I typically get along with most people that I meet. So there’s probably a 66% chance (at least) that if we knew each other, we would have mutual respect and benevolent feelings towards one another. So go ahead and do this favor for me. Consider it a down-payment on our friendship). Turn around and look down. Is there anyone standing immediately behind you that is at least 8-12 inches shorter than you are? If the answer to this question is yes, please be willing to admit to yourself that you are severely hampering this person’s ability to enjoy the concert that is happening a few feet in front of your face. You know, your face that sits squarely on your shoulders a good six feet above the ground? It would be oh-so-kind of you to ask this smaller statured person, and his/her smaller statured friends if they would like to stand in front of...

I always find it exhilarating when I read something in an older book or essay and discover that what was being observed hundreds of years ago about society can still be seen today. There is a strange sense of reassurance when I realize that other people have come up with the same observations about the world as I have (even though they’ve written about them with a lot more skill and a lot fewer parenthesis…and ellipses). It’s also comforting to see in these older texts that even though the world has changed dramatically, people are still basically the same. Despite the huge forces that have hit society with natural disaster strength like industry, capitalism, the invention of the car and airplane, revolutions, wars, actual natural disasters, or the internet (our century’s version of a (virtual) Industrial Revolution), people are still universally the same at their cores. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy ancient literature like The Epic of Gilgamesh; it’s comforting to know th...