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January 2009

Listen Up!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

”…they knew they were doing what they had to do, and as Dave pointed out, that they were walking instead of driving was a testimony to their seriousness of purpose. Besides, Dave said, there was something biblical and symbolic about their walking, and Wyatt agreed that he couldn’t really imagine Moses driving around the desert for forty years in a detailed truck with running boards and cupholders.”—Brock Clarke, “The Apology.” .

Strong needs are met—and not met—in a diverse trio of tales.


Deepening Insight

Sunday, January 18, 2009

”…”Our brains are just getting bigger and bigger, and the world dries up and dies when there’s too much thought , and not enough heart.”—Aimee Bender, “The Rememberer”

Two compelling tales of transformation and personal revelation.


A Pair of Paleys

Sunday, January 11, 2009

"'Please write a simple story...Just recognizable people and then write down what happened to them next’; I would like to try to tell such a story, if he means the kind that begins: "There was a woman ... " followed by a plot, the absolute line between two points which I've always despised. Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.” – Grace Paley, “A Conversation with my Father.”

A quirky odyssey, and memories of a father, by the late, great, Grace Paley.


Two Funny Guys

Sunday, January 04, 2009

That was the thing about taking a day off, the way the time reconfigured itself and how you couldn’t help comparing any given moment with what you’d be doing at work. At work, I wouldn’t have eaten yet, wouldn’t even have reached the coffee break…and my eyelids would have weighed a hundred tons each.-- T. Coraghessan Boyle, “The Lie.”
Strange behaviors in the workplace.