Author Archives: sputterpub

How to Age

Posted on May 9, 2011 by sputterpub

 I don’t have an answer for this one yet, but I’m getting some ideas. Mostly my model for it is my last dog. Shelby came into my life in 1991, when she was one and I was 41, and she … Continue reading →

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Consequences

Posted on May 6, 2011 by sputterpub

     I wonder sometimes, how much adult opinions about youth are colored by adult experience instead of youth memory. It seems like I’ve known forever that nostalgia is hogwash: remembering the angst of adolescence as “the carefree, best time in … Continue reading →

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Shelba and the Plum

Posted on May 5, 2011 by sputterpub

 I was 14 or 15 the night of that slumber party, so it was during the summer of 1964 or ‘65. I think the venue was Jill’s house (see Bad Idea, posted on April 14), which was unusual. It was … Continue reading →

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Cats

Posted on May 4, 2011 by sputterpub

Andy suggested “cattywampus” as a word o’ the week, and that brought “cattycorner” and “caterwaul” to mind. Let’s look. I’m composing this in Eugene, where I have more comforts but less books. The dictionaries I have here are electronic but … Continue reading →

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Dial Tone

Posted on May 3, 2011 by sputterpub

     When I was a teenager during the 1960s, we didn’t have cell phones. There were no personal computers. The Internet hadn’t been built. When I and the other boomers grew up we were in a culture a bit ahead … Continue reading →

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Gullible Me

Posted on May 2, 2011 by sputterpub

     When I was in fifth grade, we still had a form of show-and-tell. I think it was a once-weekly ritual, and as I recall it was about current events instead of toys and hobbies. We were expected to share … Continue reading →

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Black Hole

Posted on April 29, 2011 by sputterpub

   I’ve known a number of damaged people in my time. Mostly they were the victims of narcissistic or religious parents and many of them also suffered early loss of a sibling or other close relative with no opportunity to talk, … Continue reading →

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No No

Posted on April 28, 2011 by sputterpub

     It’s not productive to complain about the degeneration of the English language. Even the clever bemoaners don’t slow down the process, and most of the protesters are not clever. Anyone who understands word origin or how grammar works appreciates … Continue reading →

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Weird

Posted on April 27, 2011 by sputterpub

My mother thinks it’s a derogatory term. Whenever I try to explain to her why I made a decision she wouldn’t have, I describe myself as weird. “No you’re not,” she responds so swiftly it seems automatic. “Weird isn’t bad, … Continue reading →

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Protest Poem

Posted on April 26, 2011 by sputterpub

   Up the street from our house in Chula Vista was the high school, and behind the high school was undeveloped land. It was a place of sand and clayey soil, tumbleweed and manzanita, rattlesnakes and rodents and small birds. This … Continue reading →

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