An oddly open letter to an old mentor

“Who’s going to wear my sandals stained with cherry soda?/who’s going to ride my bike when I’m back in school?/who’s going to build my death ray/build my death ray/and grow poison flowers, poison flowers, with me?“ -“Poison Flowers” by Mono Puff Dear Harris, forgive me, for I have sinned. It’s been 27 years since the…

Osama Bin Readin’

“I don’t know whose side I’m on/I don’t know my right from wrong/I don’t know where I’m going to“ -Fastball, “Fire Escape” from whatever the album Fastball produced was called I wonder if that title will trigger anything when the spiders index my site. 🙂 I wanted to share a memory, one that Julie probably…

the man in the chair’s intent

“y’all don’t even know me/y’all don’t even knooooooow me.” -Action Bronson, “the Chairman’s Intent,” from the album Blue Chips 7000 As I write this, I am awash in heavy anxiety. It’s drifting toward the mode that I rarely get into where it becomes psychosomatic and I start to make myself a little sick. I have…

A year later…

‘You may ask yourself, “What is that beautiful house?’/You may ask yourself, ‘Where does that highway go to?’/And you may ask yourself, ‘Am I right, am I wrong?’/And you may say to yourself, ‘My God, what have I done?’” -The Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime” from the album Remain in Light It was actually…

I think…

“she likes to sleep with the radio on/she she can dream of her favorite song/the one that no one’s ever sung/since she was small/she’ll never know that she made it up/she had a soul and we ate it up/thrown away like a paper cup/the music would fall.” -Barenaked Ladies, “The War on Drugs,” from Everything…

I’m scared most of the time

“All that I ask of myself/is that I hold together“ -Ned’s Atomic Dust Bin “All That I Ask of Myself,” from their self-titled album Just a drive-by because I have fallen behind on posts and feel an obligation to myself to try to catch up a little for that week I was sick. And I…

Letting Go…

“I got a lot of toys/72Os bumping Fall Out Boy“ -Post Malone, “Wow” from Hollywood’s Bleeding I’m not going to say “hoarder.” I’m not. Stop looking at me. I’m NOT. But my mother, she was frugal, and thrifty, and MacGyvery. She made things all the time. But she also always saw the potential in a…

The Last Polka

“If he really loved me, she said/I wouldn’t have to be so mean.” -Ben Folds Five, “The Last Polka,” from their self-titled first album The last week, I’ve been sick. Stomach sick, one of the worst kind. It’s one of those things where at a certain point you just want to sleep until it’s over….

How to Keep Moving in the 2022 Educational Landscape

“On the way out I’m thinking/you get what you take anyway“ -Freedy Johnston, “On the Way Out,” from Never Home I consider myself a survivor. That said, I’ve made it clear on this blog, more than once, that I’m still not “okay.” I’m not sure when I will be. I’m not operating at 100%. I…