Author Archives: sputterpub

Sullied Soles

Posted on August 8, 2011 by sputterpub

I find it quite annoying when the bottoms of my shoes acquire stickiness. It can happen from picking up sidewalk gum, or if I pass under plum trees that have dropped their fruit (my brother Steve refers to those plants … Continue reading →

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A Particle in the Wave

Posted on August 5, 2011 by sputterpub

Our passages are similar to waves: insistent flow as seldom marking quirks as calibrated clouds. Each class behaves in pulses – curving average made of jerks – except a freak of custom may be seen, occasional and rational and rare, … Continue reading →

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Merge Memory

Posted on August 4, 2011 by sputterpub

It was back when I was early married, and we were commuting out of San Francisco in the Corvair, so it couldn’t have been later than the mid-1970s. Those were the old days, when bridge tolls were all paid in … Continue reading →

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Nostalgia (the Word)

Posted on August 3, 2011 by sputterpub

In the beginning, “nostalgia” was a medical diagnosis. My dictionary indicates the word was coined in 1668 by one Johannes Hofer. He built it from two Greek roots: nostos = homecoming and algia = pain, grief, distress (Greek study, by … Continue reading →

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Nostalgia

Posted on August 2, 2011 by sputterpub

Charles once conjectured that I’m the only person he knows who had a happy enough childhood that I can afford to remember how unhappy it was. As often as we walked when we were young, one would have thought us … Continue reading →

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TSA

Posted on August 1, 2011 by sputterpub

I had to pass through security at SFO on July 14. I was a little concerned about the two water pistols I was packing – sure they were bright plastic, obvious, empty, and bearing their “for ages 4+” labels, but … Continue reading →

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Reception

Posted on July 29, 2011 by sputterpub

For 50 years I drove myself to get a spouse and raise my kids and earn my keep and exercise and write. That’s when I set my course: I lost no time – I traded sleep if necessary to attain … Continue reading →

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Fair Market Value

Posted on July 28, 2011 by sputterpub

“The only place the word fair appears in the Internal Revenue Code,” Al intoned, is “immediately before the phrase market value.” Al has since retired, but I’ll never forget his words. He was responding to some complaint I voiced about … Continue reading →

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Eeps

Posted on July 27, 2011 by sputterpub

Recently I got into “eep” words. It started with keep, and moved on to creep, sweep, weep, peep, and steep. They all come from Middle English words which developed from Old English. Most of the Middle English words rhymed too … Continue reading →

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Characters

Posted on July 26, 2011 by sputterpub

It’s been said before and today it’s my turn. When you create fictional characters, they’re likely to make decisions and proceed in directions you didn’t anticipate when you started them. It isn’t that they act perversely – rather, you didn’t … Continue reading →

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