Pretend you are born in the dark of night in a cold room in the shadow of an overpass. Pretend there is a single naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Say your mother is always pulling the thin pink blanket over your shoulders with hands still shaking from delirium tremens. In the room next… Read more »
1. To pan fry more trout on that secret beach. 2. To sit on a gravestone and eat honey right from the hive. 3. To take up the accordion. 4. To swallow a diamond and let it pass right through me. 5. To spend one whole day looking at the world through yellow cellophane. 6…. Read more »
Some things I’m going to do less of in 2006 “¢ Eating lunch by myself. “¢ Running for the bus, even when I’m late. “¢ Making excuses for not keeping in touch with far away friends. “¢ Making excuses, in general. In the interests of fairness, some phrases I would like to see in more… Read more »
Waking up to the clock radio, the first news of the day is all about bodies mangled by bombs in Pakistan. Women and children are reported buried under the rubble. A few minutes later, a spokeswoman for an environmental group is playing “connect the dots” with tsunamis, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought and floods. Closer to… Read more »
It’s the afternoon of the first day of a brand new year and already a man in Kansas or in Florida has murdered his family in their sleep, or has set fire to himself on the corner of a downtown street. Already the drug dealers are selling heroin outside the Seven-Eleven, and a plane loaded… Read more »
Your whole life you are sleepwalking, until suddenly, one night, you wake up and know exactly what it is you must do. You open wide your bedroom window. The wind is whipping your face, screaming in your ears, but you barely even notice. You climb out onto the narrow ledge. One quick leap upwards, and… Read more »
Most people, I think, start out by being fairly open-minded to most experiences. For a child, each new room and each new day are potential adventures waiting to be explored. During the first few years of our lives, we are totally “in the moment,” completely immersed in the waters of the here and now. As… Read more »
We love to hear from you! Send your questions and comments to voice@ausu.org, and please indicate if we may publish your letter. RE: From Where I Sit – Utter Bloody Rudeness, December 2, v13 i 46 Hi, this is just a quick appreciative comment re: Hazel Anaka’s article. I always feel optimistic when I hear… Read more »
It didn’t look good, to say the least. My ancient, steam-driven iMac stubbornly refused to boot up. Its inner workings making a sort of grinding, creaking sound, like the cars of an antique and soon-to-be condemned rollercoaster labouriously inching their way to the top of the ride’s first hill. Perhaps it was my imagination, but… Read more »
He is sitting back in his chair, and suddenly he looks impossibly frail. He seems as light as a paper kite, as though he might suddenly just rise up and float out the window. He is not the figure I remember from my childhood. He is not the man who slammed the back of my… Read more »