Category Archives: Uncategorized

8/29: Soviet Russian Chechen Kyrgyz Uzbek Film: Пошли в кино!

Watching films at work is a great way to make a living. I did for five years, laughing and crying through movies, writing reviews for K-12 teachers on our department website, and showing the films in schools. I made my … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

9/25/13: Platinum

In the dog realm, she thinks of her classmate as a white Russian borzoi wolfhound: high-float walk, horizon eyes, gracious temper until a first glimpse of wolf crosses his sights. Then he’s gone, snowstreak to the distance. As dog breeds … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

7/31: The Carrot-Chopping Prayer

The house was a plain white clapboard, built in 1930 give or take, insulated with a layer of horsehair embedded in the plaster. At $250 per month, my studiolette was a cozy work/sleep room lined up with a smaller kitchen … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

9/2: Good Name

“We called you The Fish,” he told her, when the storm was over. He was one of six bright young grad students with privileged credentials and gorgeous English who came a long long way to the U.S. for a winter … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

5/31: Step Right Up!

The moral of this story is not that people born outside the U.S. are inclined toward bewilderment or learned helplessness. (Rest assured that in most life skills, the majority of people the world over could rocket figure eights all around … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

7/7/13: Recipe in Two Short Words

His house was safe mooring for curios adrift. The lineup of objects in his yard was implausible, yet somehow inviting: stone birdbath draped in lemonbalm, marble cherub in peppermint, oakwood church pew in grapevines, cast-iron weather vane in lavender, bas-relief … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

5/25/13: Reconciled

I’d be happy to give his name here. But he wouldn’t see the point of that. People who truly help, that’s how they are. If anybody needs them, then they’ll stop, set things straight, move on to the next indicated … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

She Don’t Fade: 5/18

Late last week at 3:00 a.m., along came two whole different nightmares about the misty far-off past, leaving me wide awake and wondering “What does it all mean? How am I supposed to cheer up enough to go face the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

New Mexico. Update 5/1

The Land of Enchantment has a quiet voice. It’s patience in adversity, and the sound of past stories over and forgotten. The place for hearing it is ear to ground, kneeling on hardpan or sotol brush or the cracked concrete … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Welcome to Big Sky Country! 4/14

This is Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and I am pretty good & sick. Deep calliope cough. Some fever. It changes perspective in an interesting way: every detail seems equally important and overwhelming, down to the most random bits of color … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment