Category Archives: Lessons

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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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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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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Snubbin’ Cousins

Posted on July 25, 2011 by sputterpub

If you go back just a few generations in anybody’s family, the tree widens. Folks tended to have more babies last century, and even if fewer (percentage-wise) survived to adulthood, enough made it that everyone had cousins, and many came … Continue reading →

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Reveille

Posted on July 22, 2011 by sputterpub

I started this sonnet in 1998, saw it published in the online zine Cyclamens & Swords last August, and have just dallied with edits and played with line breaks, for here. I don’t know what breed of bird it was, … Continue reading →

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The Truth about the Tortoise and the Hare

Posted on July 21, 2011 by sputterpub

It’s a great fable and it made a cute cartoon. But is it honest? We all get it: that to win the race one should stay focused and avoid cockiness. But under what circumstances, really, would the tortoise win? Clearly this … Continue reading →

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Desserts

Posted on July 11, 2011 by sputterpub

     I had an amazing dessert recently, which reminded me of two other memorable sweet courses. I was struck by the quality they all shared – absence of chocolate – and that got me wondering. I adore chocolate. Seldom does … Continue reading →

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The Job

Posted on July 8, 2011 by sputterpub

  “I’m not a-skeered o’ you,” I declare to my offspring, even though she’s now almost 418 months old and he’s nearly 349. Talk about whistling in the dark – they terrify me. My children are passionate, capable of expressing … Continue reading →

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