Rough and tumble storms have been rolling through Memphis this morning. It’s in the mid-sixties, there’s a lot of thunder and lightening. Seems a bit crazy for January. Yesterday I read that an organization in Australia made dire predictions for climate change – basically saying that by 2050, civilization will collapse in to chaos because…
PRACTICE AND THE EVOLUTION OF ART
As part of my “be the person you want to find” self-improvement campaign, I’ve been focusing on my artistic side (mostly writing). I know I’m drawn to artistic types, writers, visual artists, actresses. One woman I’ve been talking to has shared some of her abstract paintings – I like them. Even if it doesn’t go…
GRIEF AND A CELEBRITY SIGHTING (SORTA)
This morning, after my run (yay to me for finding time), I settled in to an article I had set aside to read: The Strangeness of Grief by V. S. Naipaul. I am, at times, obsessed with the subject. It’s not something I’ve ever really experienced, at least not on the level of what I’ve…
A NEW YEAR, A BEGINNER’S SONG
Is it cliche to write exactly what’s expected from a New Year’s post? A reflection on the last year’s good and bad blended with cautious optimism for the year ahead? A list of things I’d like to do better? Lists of things I’d like to stop or start doing? I kinda hate these types of…
CALIFORNIA
Our minds do very strange things to us. Today I was researching a business based in Torrence, CA. I’m the type of guy who also has to pull a place up on a map. I love to understand a bit of geography. I wanted to know where Torrence was. As I zoomed out a bit…
I DON’T NEED ALONE TIME. IS THAT A BAD THING?
Today I’m thinking about a few competing / complimentary ideas. I’m thinking about love as a creative act. I’m thinking about my writing habits and some of the interests I haven’t pursued. I’m thinking about my next relationship. I’m thinking about my social side. The common thread seems to be defining who I am as…
LOST DAY
My ex-fiancee, B, once wrote on her blog: when i don’t write every day, words devolve into lists, a sense of freedom lapses into the default of routine — and it gets more and more difficult to practice poetry again. we all know there is some peace to living with head full of white noise. it’s…
LEAVING
Tonight I head back to Memphis. It’s been an enlightening few days. As I drove back to South Philly , the Philly skyline was stunning. If you were to scroll through the pics on my phone from the past year, you would see lots of these photos. Every evening, I made the trip from Bucks…
HONORING SOMEONE ELSE’S SADNESS
I did not intend to write about online dating on Christmas Day. It felt both cheeky and frivolous. At times, I wanted to spend my day in solitude thinking. Thinking about the people B lost and misses. So much of my blog has felt like self pity, that I thought today might be well-served thinking…
THE BEAUTY OF BANAL PLATITUDES
For the past three mornings I’ve sat at the kitchen table at my dad’s house where I’ve dipped toast in sunny side up eggs and drank my coffee and ate my bacon. On the wall opposite of where I sit, next to the light switch is a little placard that reads in cursive: Live, Laugh,…
THE QUIET FULLNESS OF CHRISTMAS EVE
Today is Christmas Eve. For me this has been one of those days that always symbolized quiet and beauty. Today is the birthday of my first girlfriend (we were together seven years). Christmas Eve was usually a raucous affair for her family – she often had to clean the house in order to prep for…
WHAT I CHOOSE TO WORSHIP
I’m somewhat obsessed with the idea of romantic love. For a while now, I’ve tried to figure out where this obsession comes from. I’ve also tried to figure out where my notions about love come from. I’m a complete sucker for it. Feeling this way causes a little bit of shame for me. This past…