Burned Pancakes

June 6, 2005   Monday The week has just begun, and I wonder what you are doing with it now, seven thousand miles away.  I have in my hand your email from last week, so I’ll use that to fill my own letter with.  You already know some of the language?  I am impressed, but…

Here Goes – The Rush of the High Seas

  June 2, 2005  Thursday Alright, charge the coin-operated computer up in Zambia, because this is probably going to a long email, but I will start from the beginning.  That would last Friday, the 27th.  Id had just gotten off the ship from beginning gone all week and enjoying your messages before driving home to,…

“A Cold Play on Words, Waiting for the Music to Start”

written September 29, 2005 Every time I have a Yellow thought The Clocks stop I swear I’m in a Spiderweb for sure This Y mess, with the X What the hell, damn this stress What would you have me be, God …a Scientist? The better to Fix You-but wait? I do not hesitate To tend,…

The Killing Field?

July 2, 2005  Saturday There is a saying that must be foreign to your Southwest region, but it is well-known to the Midwest where I was raised: “Knee-high by the Fourth of July.”  This refers to how high the corn should be by mid-summer.  My small backyard plot here in Norfolk, Virginia I know, is…

Windmills

June 27, 2005  Monday As I was packing I paused to consider which book I would be bringing with me overnight at sea.  Most in my small collection seemed dreary and dull, but I picked out one that, again, I should have read long ago: Don Quixote.  Throwing it into my bag, I thought it…

“Don’t Look Now, the Universe is Laughing”

“Don’t Look Now, the Universe is Laughing” by Will Carlson At some point in our lives everyone meets at Starbucks.  It’s true.  In 1997 an experiment was conducted by Professor Maxwell Sloan of Loyola University to test his theory.  For five years at the college’s campus franchise two blocks away from his office Dr. Sloan…

Does Indelible Fade?

November 8, 1999  Monday I wanted to wait until Tuesday (as was Tom’s careful consideration) to respond to her, but time has has already gone by, and I was intrigued to know better how she left. I went over to Lincoln Hall’s computer lab tonight to just write an e-mail to her and make sure…

The Dance Thing – That’s Less Than Encouraging

November 7, 1999  Sunday I woke up Saturday morning to the memorial service for my childhood hero Walter Payton at Soldier Field, being shown life on WGN, CNN, ESPN, Fox Sports, and other stations.  It was going to be that kind of weekend. All of the Alpha Sigs next door at 714 wanted to leave…

Breaking the Silence

November 5, 1999 Friday Last night I had a dream with Sidney in it.  That’s not too strange, on the face of it.  They still happen, sometimes.  Nothing spectacular happening. I hadn’t had one in a while, but it in we briefly talked;  perhaps I was grabbed by some special twist of the imaginary words…

Sweetness

November 2, 1999  Tuesday As Collinsville, Tom and I were having the Greek discussion of the last entry (“Why I Write This Thing 2”), a story broke on the TV that Walter Payton had died at noon.  It’s one of those moments you can’t describe.  Walter had been ill since at least last February when…

Why I Write This Thing 2

November 2, 1999  Tuesday The first “Why I Write This Thing”  was written on September 8, 1996 Last night Collinsville was looking through this current volume when he took issue with “Re-establishment Part 3: Pike-hood.”  He said I had to take a lot of what I wrote out because there would be 40-odd Pikes on…

To Anyone Still Concerned: A Post-It Note from Me

October 26, 1999  Tuesday This being an off-day from thinking, doing, and about every other “-ing,” I settled down on the couch to read some of the ancient writings of Is Anybody Out There? and Memoirs from the Edge.  On October 31, 1996 I wrote an entry called “To All Concerned: A Letter By Me.”…