Read it here: https://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/the-new-york-times-is-rotting-at-the-seams
Read my latest at Splice Today . . .
Writing the Hard Thing
If I could tell you the number of stories and novels I’ve begun writing and not finished, we’d be here too long. But “not finished” doesn’t mean “discarded.” It means what it says. The difficulty comes when I’ve convinced myself that I’m one sort of writer (the consistent, cheerfully productive kind) as opposed the other,... Continue Reading →
The Introspective Ferret’s Guide to Parties
The quiet introspective ferret feels he has only been to two kinds of parties: those where people assess each other from behind smokescreens of shallow small talk and those where people get as drunk and as high as possible to avoid being aware of such assessment. Office / department parties tend to be a blend... Continue Reading →
Surpassing Meritocracy: the Artist’s Way
There are many different paths to greatness, not just the ones most commonly identified by conformist culture. As long as your basic needs are met, where you put your energy—how you pursue excellence—is completely your business. Realizing this can be difficult and gradual. It seems true, even if we admit that discourses (value systems) will... Continue Reading →
Nobody Knows It But Me
Long ago, I was an English teacher at a private high school in central California. It was a good, if demanding, job and unlike many of my colleagues, I seemed to manage occasional moments of non-misery in the workplace. In fact, the two years I spent working there taught me more about human nature than... Continue Reading →
Happiness is a Warm Gun
She was my first real girlfriend and she terrified me. More precisely, the possibility of her getting bored with me terrified me. And she was always at great pains to remind me that boredom would have dire consequences. Boredom was the end. I had no idea who she really was and neither did she; though,... Continue Reading →
The Housemates on Krypton
There is a definite upside to living in a creaky old house next to a canal with a doctor and four housemates: you're alive. The downside is only slightly less obvious than that: you and the housemates have to get along with a degree of functional civility, which in Oxford generally means avoiding each other... Continue Reading →
The Writing Expedition 