I realize that lots of people like year-end list-making, but I’m more than a little ambivalent about it. Seems like there’s way too much of it—ten best movies, twenty best books, fifteen top TV shows, [...]
You Did What to the Horse?
It’s amazing how little it sometimes takes to trigger a series of way-back memories. As I was passing through the picturesque town of Canandiagua, NY, on a winter day recently, the snow-covered early-19th-century and Victorian-era [...]
Not Your Grandfather’s Wish Book
I don’t know about you, but I surrender. Well, make that a partial surrender. I’ve long griped about Christmas decorations going on sale in stores weeks before Thanksgiving, and I’m certainly not ready for the [...]
Passwords and Pocketknives
Lately, passwords have got me thinking about a character in my novel South of Little Rock. Some folks thought he was too old to do his job and he ought to just retire, find a good [...]
Learning from the Past
What can social movements of the past teach us about today’s socially charged climate? Within the past year, my novel South of Little Rock has received four regional and social-issue fiction awards for examining that [...]
It Must Have Been Vicki
I know that a lot of people, maybe most, lose socks for reasons they can’t explain, and that from time to time they misplace TV remotes, keys, sunglasses, and other things despite having designated places [...]