The person on Twitter had quoted Vonnegut: “I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” Whenever I come across this quote, I’m reminded of Stephen Dunn’s essay on gambling in which he…
Cultural Impasse
“Hey man, not everyone is a criminal.” That’s what the guy said to me as he entered the doorway to his building. He was a young black man, lighter skin, a little shorter than me, glasses, and I think a bald head. I was caught off guard and didn’t know how to respond. I think…
A Tale of Two Matts
Yesterday, I left the misty damp of Shenandoah and drove 7-8 hours south and east to greet the misty damp, but warm, air of Charleston, South Carolina. Today, I desperately want to go out and walk around. I’m slightly hobbled by a blister that’s the size of a small hammer… and now, in this moment,…
Learning Like a Kid Again
The Uhler clan has never been accused of being outdoorsy. My father told some stories about fishing and him sleeping on the beach when he was younger. There were a few years where my brother and I would go fishing with my dad and grandpa. But outside of that, the most outdoorsy thing I did…
So It Begins (Assholes and Maniacs)
On Friday morning, at around 8:30am, I loaded the car (again) and with the odometer reading 34,223 (give or take, I only remembered to look shortly after I pulled out of the development), I began my slow trek south and then westward. My first stop would be Richmond, VA – about five hours and 270…
Here Goes Nothin’
It would be easier to stay or at least postpone. My friends are having an impromptu get together Saturday night. I’ve been watching the news of a storm moving up the east coast. It’s going to be raining from North Carolina up through New York for the better part of this weekend. Exploring a city…
Memory Lane and Familiar Paths
Today I went for a run on the tow path. It’s a gravel path that runs alongside the Delaware Canal from Bristol, PA to Easton, PA (approx. sixty miles in length). I used to live in a neighborhood that backed up to the canal and tow path. Near one end of our neighborhood was a…
Diverging Roads are Little More than Diverging Roads
Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. From “The…
Yet Even More of the Same
It’s 3:30am. The house is a cool 68 degrees. I’ve been up for about an hour. I went to bed a little earlier which means the 3:00am stirring happened at 2:30. I checked my phone (a not-so-great habit I should probably correct). I had a text from a woman out west. She wants to know…
Molting
It’s midday on Sunday. In the back yard, grackles fall from the sky. They stride across the lawn picking and pecking. They examine the ground, looking down like inquisitive inspectors in black overcoats with their hands clasped behind their backs saying “hmmm, very interesting.” In the living room, a sports show, NFL Today or something…
Swingin’ in a Line, Lined Up in the Sunshine
Monkey mind monkey mind… swinging like grapes hangin’ from a vine. Within the span of about ten minutes I thought about how infrequently my parents have left the house since being here. How my father will go to fewer football games when I’m not around to go with him. How I won’t be here to…
One Year, Fifty-Two Words a Day
18,982 words – give or take. For a year I’ve tried this small artistic and mindful practice of writing fifty-two words every day. The math says I should have written 18,980 words, but I know I had at least one day where I snuck in two extra words (I was making references to a deck…