Liminal

"The short man followed, limping, terrific, crablike." Nearly through reading 900 pages of Faulkner short stories, and can't get rid of the sentence above. For some reason. Yesterday, while doing research for a story I'm writing, I came across a Cree word that any bird hunter would appreciate: “Papêtikwâskopaniow.” I wish I could pretend I …

All Imperfect Things

I got a sick queasy feeling deep in my stomach as we detoured and drove into rural Council, Idaho. The curbside spot right out front of the local veterinary office was the exact spot where we'd parked the bright red Jeep two years before and it was empty and waiting for us. Just like the …

Granted

"I took it for granted." For granted. It's one of those things we don't want to admit to doing. It's come to my mind a lot in the past year, mainly in thinking about where we used to live. I tried hard not ever to take for granted living in chukar country. This blog is …

Saudades

One summer while home from college I waited tables at an Italian restaurant in Laguna Beach run by some racist Milanese who'd recently emigrated from apartheid South Africa. How they ended up in Laguna I'm not sure, but their attitudes about people struck me as not only offensive but ironic considering that the kitchen and …