It’s fall, and as such there are certainly obligatory culinary endeavors in which one must partake. Notice that I did not end the above sentence with a preposition. But I digress. Fall requires a lot of foods that start with “P.” In order of operations, we shall first consider pumpkins. It was a long, long […]
Category: Musings about Language and Life
My version of “what’s it all about anyway?”
A Plinth for Medusa
Younger Son noticed that the little statue of Medusa, which he was going to paint and use in an Overly Complicated Board Game, had a muscular tail that hung down below her feet. “Hmmm,” said Elder Son. “How will she stand up?” “She needs a plinth,” I piped up. Usually, I remain stoically mute when […]
Worry wart
Third time’s a charm, or so I’ve always heard. In this case, “third time” applies to my decision to retire yet again from the field of education. And maybe knit a bunch or sweaters, or stare anxiously at my kids, or grow asparagus, and try not to lose my ever-lovin’, blue-eyed mind. And let us […]
A trick of the light
I learned recently that my eyes are blue only in the sense that the sky and the ocean are blue. That is, they aren’t really. There’s a spot towards the front of the iris that, for most people, holds a bit of brown or other color of pigment. This section of my eyes, apparently, has […]
Writing it out
Picture this: I’m twenty years old and I’m writing in longhand. I’m homing in on a brilliant conclusion for a college writing assignment. My topic is to draw an analogy between the seasons of the year and the phases of a person’s life. I may be a baby who knows nothing of metaphorical evenings, but […]
Space-time continuum
Just a flick of the wrist, a click of the mouse, and one can fast-forward in time. A fifth grader showed me how. He approached my desk, eyes crinkled almost shut with the delight of discovery, and showed me the calendar app on his iPad. The display showed the month of April 2124. He waited […]
A Family of Bobcat Wranglers
This story might be a miniature version of a braided essay, there being at least three major strands to it. First, let us establish what I mean by Bobcat. I refer not to the 30-odd pound wild feline, but instead to the small-by-comparison piece of heavy equipment. Like this guy, which picture I found on […]
The proof is in the reading
Imagine my chagrin. I am leafing through a collection of my essays, which I plan to publish, looking casually for typos and points of style and grammar. Suddenly, an error leaps off the page and grabs me by the brain stem. I have written “it’s” where I should have written “its”! This egregious bit of […]
The great peanut butter paradox
The other day I read a meme that made me truly LOL (laugh out loud) as opposed to SALTS (smiled a little, then stopped). This meme said that if you ever wonder just how out of touch with reality you are, then try measuring out an actual serving size of peanut butter. I laughed because […]
Will you by my Muse?
I always did love Greek mythology, and as a creative writer I find myself especially attracted to the Muses. These nine sisters are daughters of Zeus (who isn’t?) and the Titan goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. Note that the “m” is silent, and the final “e” is pronounced as a separate syllable. Neh-MAH-sih-ne. Knowing the rules […]