Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama Stories that center on fathers have a distinct place in the memoir genre. For better or worse, fathers hold a place that intersects with the world and experience in a way far different from that of a mother’s. As in Jung’s archetypes, fathers are symbols of worldliness and [….]
In last week’s 2nd Annual NerdCon: Stories convention, held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, I attended a panel discussion entitled “Sotto Voce: Finding Your Voice”. Many of the panelists talked about staying true to yourself, searching for your true voice, and the difficulty that sometimes arises when you find yourself defaulting to a voice that [….]
While the variety shows and special events were fun, and the panels and workshops were informative, while being around a crowd of like-minded people and be able to rub elbows with all sorts of fun folks is wonderful, what makes NerdCon: Stories so memorable for me is how it gives me the opportunity to [….]
In traditional Chinese philosophy, the Tao is the intuitive knowing of “life” that cannot be grasped full-heartedly as just a concept but is known nonetheless through actual living experience of one’s everyday being.* That’s not the Tao I’m talking about. Not really. The Tao I’m referring to is an alien being, part of [….]
Dang, it’s hot. Too hot. I know you folks in Southern climates may well be guffawing at us Northerners now, like we don’t know hot, but I don’t care. Heck, I moved North to get away from all this! For those who may not know, I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota; I have for 35 years. [….]
I am an extremely lucky person. At times when I am feeling particularly magnanimous, I would even say that I am blessed. I live in an existence where I am surrounded by books. I own books, I can download books electronically, I have a library nearby where I can not only check out books but [….]
Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy First published in 1874, Hardy’s novel of romantic entanglements and farming rural life is set in a fictional county Wessex of its day, though its heroine distinctly out of her time. Even before Bathsheba Everdene finds herself in a station of authority and wealth, she’s prone to [….]
We humans are so divergent in who we are, how we react and respond, in how our minds work and our ideas play out. It’s glorious. I’m not talking ideologies or dogma or beliefs or rationalizations. That’s not quite as glorious. I’m talking about how we relate to our private selves, and to others around [….]
