December 5th and 6th, 2007

I live next door to a gas station. It has music and commercials playing on outdoor speakers, even late at night when it's closed. It used to bother me. I'd even dream about gas station attendants filling my car's gas tank. But now I think I've gotten used to it.

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Fuck you. You're a student. We're administrators. Do you know how many of you flunk out each year? Even if you pass, who'll remember you? Even if you donate a building with your name on it? Those who take the courses decide nothing. Those who push the pencils decide everything.

September 26, 2007

Damn, but I've been away a long time!
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Dali and Bunuel made this movie in which someone gets their eye cut open. It's trick photography, but looks very real. It played on campus. As the scene came on, I shut my eyes. I didn't watch it, but the screams and moans of disgust from the audience were deafening.

August 7, 2007

Triple-header

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I believe that televangelists can say whatever they jolly well please. That's called freedom of speech. I also believe that people whose lifestyles don't necessarily conform to their notions of morality have the right to live their lives, unmolested by bad laws and government morality squads. That is called liberty.


I met my old classmate Jennie at the hotel. I desired her, as a student, but was too shy. We talked about school and our careers. Her room was on the same floor as mine. As we said good night, she put her arms around me and kissed me, hard.


I've lived in Berlin for 8 months. Learning German was easier than I thought. I no longer translate words from German to English before comprehending them. I fit in almost like a native. It's a little scary. Lately, I've been having lots of dreams about my late father and grandmother.

July 27th, 2007

Damn, but it's sure been a while since I last posted!
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The closet had been locked for 40 years. No one knew what was inside. There was a thick layer of dust over stacks of cardboard boxes. Someone pulled one out, dusted it with a wad of paper towels, and slit the packing tape which sealed it with a pocket knife.

July 12, 2007

“Diversity” is one of those words that's a benediction to some or liberal claptrap to others. Permit me to clarify the definition. “Diversity” is a 50-dollar word which means that just because someone looks, speaks, or thinks differently from you does not necessarily mean that they must be destroyed.

July 1, 2007

Hal stumbled out the delivery door at the back of the club. The sill of the door was just an inch or so higher than the pavement, throwing him off balance. It was 12:30. The headlining act was three hours late. He thought, “What is it with these punk acts”?

June 30, 2007

The music swelled. The video monitors in the control room switched from a long shot of the studio to the animation that closed every show. The red camera lights went dark. Another show was in the can. Soon hundreds of checks would pour in from souls begging to be saved.

June 27, 2007

Larry liked to show off when he was young. Back in '64, he was a manager at the bank. He had the first Lincoln Continental in town. Black, with doors which opened in opposite directions. People gawked every time he drove it down main street, which he did a lot.

June 26, 2007

“What is it this time?”, he sighed in frustration. It was his fifth attempt at recording his latest song. The studio had just bought new equipment, and the engineers weren't used to it. He had yet to get a full take down. “Master 36197, take 6” shouted the tape operator.

June 25, 2007

I'm fascinated with lifespans. “1876-1954”. “1909-1968”. “1946-1978”. How did each person deal with events like wars or economic failures? What kind of work did he do? How many children did she raise? Why did he die young? Like books on shelves, which will never be read again.

June 21, 2007 (double posting)

Hank and Sue were teenage lovers in 1957. In the last month of their senior year of high school, Hank got Sue pregnant. They got married the day after they graduated. They had a son, Joe. Joe grew up to be an OB/GYN who specialized in fertility and contraception.

I saw my first war movie when I was 4. It was on TV. The scene I walked in on showed two men on some kind of metal structure, each trying to kill the other. I was too young to understand the concept of pacifism, but I remember being disgusted.

June 18, 2007

We were in Keith's '95 Saturn at a convenience store near the Lincoln tunnel. As we pulled out of its parking lot, Keith accidentally cut off this big, white van. Its driver let fly with a stream of profanities. I said, "I think he just said 'Welcome to New York!'".

June 15th, 2007

Much of life is about learning how to say “fuck off”. Through words, or deeds, or both. To the guidance counselor who says that you're a lousy writer and you'll never amount to anything. To the televangelist who tells you you're going to Hell, because thinking for yourself is heresy.

June 10, 2007

Five Secret Service agents had pinned the assassin face-down on the pavement. His nose was broken and bleeding, but he was laughing uncontrollably. Women screamed. Police held back the crowd. Television camera crews closed in around the scene, camera lights blazing. The assassin raised his head and yelled “Freedom!!!”.

June 9, 2007

I pulled the record from the bin. Black-and-white photo of the artist grinning on the front. Musty smell. Obviously from the 1960's. Some lounge piano player who worked at some resort in the Borscht Belt. The guy signed his autograph underneath his picture. Is he still alive?