Category Archives: Lessons

Bad Idea

Posted on April 14, 2011 by sputterpub

     When I was around 14, I was in like with a girl named Jill. I admired her name, her thick cooperative dark blonde hair, the faint freckles on her face, her athletic medium-sized body. I liked her woodsy home … Continue reading →

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Habits

Posted on April 11, 2011 by sputterpub

   My father was a proponent of moderation. He loathed extremism and he dreaded mindless habitual activity. He used to tell me that it was sensible to form good habits, like the custom of turning off lights as you leave a … Continue reading →

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Body Slang

Posted on April 7, 2011 by sputterpub

Do you look into a person’s eyes when he or she is speaking to you? I rarely do. My attention is drawn to the moving part: the mouth. Oh I’ll check out the cheeks and the chin and the lines … Continue reading →

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Antiprayer

Posted on April 1, 2011 by sputterpub

Allow me disadvantage so I’ll pay attention to my life. Bestow on me a dare, a tiny hassle toss my way; anoint my psyche with adversity. I need a little friction. I can’t sense a passage unabrasive or the slick … Continue reading →

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Three Stupids

Posted on March 31, 2011 by sputterpub

     When I was around 14 years old, I had an idea that has never stopped cracking me up. I was walking along a road in unincorporated Bonita, California with either my buddy Alice or my neighbor Cindy, when the … Continue reading →

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Garage

Posted on March 28, 2011 by sputterpub

    When I was 40 I bought the North Berkeley cottage, and that move caused a chronic small anxiety in me, about swollen creek water and the garage. It was more of a covered bridge than a proper car house, … Continue reading →

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Continuum

Posted on March 25, 2011 by sputterpub

“I need more space,” my boyfriend used to plead in 1969, but what he meant was “I want other girls, and I don’t need a steady yet.” It wasn’t his intent to settle down before his oats could sprout, who’d … Continue reading →

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OJ

Posted on March 24, 2011 by sputterpub

    When we were in our mid-20s, Nick and I once made a memorable mess. We were on a road trip vacation, which meant we carried detailed maps and plenty of food and drink so we could tool around on byways … Continue reading →

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Codes & Epigrams

Posted on March 22, 2011 by sputterpub

When I was around 55, I finally figured out that people don’t always mean their words. Some phrases are in fact code. For example, “Hi, how are you?” is seldom an honest inquiry about your health or mood. You’re supposed to … Continue reading →

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The Anticipator

Posted on March 21, 2011 by sputterpub

   When I was 15, the family moved from southern California to the San Francisco bay area, and in the next few years the place exploded with music, drugs, sex, and politics. I was already eccentric and suspected I might … Continue reading →

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