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 Surpassing Meritocracy: the Artist’s Way
Tag: narrative
FYI: New Story Forthcoming in Visitant Magazine
A recent short short of mine, "You Are Somewhere Else," is forthcoming in Visitant and should be available online. As usual, I will post the links when the story comes out. - M
More Than Just a Familiar Formula—a review of Netflix’s Mute on Splice Today
Read it here: https://www.splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/more-than-just-a-familiar-formula
Tiredness, Truth, and Mockery: the American Way
Today, I wonder whether I should re-think some of my ultra-liberal biases and attendant leftist news consumption. This is good. But, man, I'm beat. The alt-right (and the radical religious right) to me seems like a uniquely American expression of deep stupidity but, of course, I would say that. Look at my demographic: college educated,… Continue reading Tiredness, Truth, and Mockery: the American Way
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 Nobody Knows It But Me
Sater, Cohen, and the Collapsing House of Cards
More developments are emerging regarding Trump's Russian connections - a new post on Splice Today. Read it here: http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/sater-cohen-and-the-collapsing-house-of-cards
My new piece today on Splice Today . . .
Speak of the Devil: Journalism in the Trump Era Good nutritious narrative angst from yours truly...
The Voice in the Fire
As I have said many times and in many different ways, graduate study in literature and creative writing is not easy for anyone, even in the most favorable circumstances. There is an inner, emotional, psychological, processual effort that no one talks about and an outer, technical, rhetorical, production effort that everyone takes for granted. Both… Continue reading The Voice in the Fire
Review: a few belated thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 5 (with many spoilers)
So I finally finished Season 5 of Game of Thrones and I know I should be emotionally manhandled at this point by all the cynical backstabbery, but I'm not. Martin Scorsese once said that it's easy to get your audience to feel something—just put a puppy on stage and drop a safe on it. You'll get… Continue reading Review: a few belated thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 5 (with many spoilers)
The Writing Expedition 