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The question is not, he said, were you loved. Or did you love. Or did you love yourself. Or did you allow love to move you, though that’s a big one. Move you. The question, Rockwell, is did you get to be who you are And if not, then why. That, my friend, is the […]

I’m always on the lookout for new words, opportunities to push the boundaries of my vocabulary, so when I encountered the word “girning” in an A. S. Byatt short story, I had to make a note of this one. In the context, it was a whining or complaining sound (made, in this case by a […]

I’ll immortalize you, you’ll become the book I was always meant to write, the one where the forgeries of our humanity become the timeless tragedies of our race. Robert Vivian, The Mover of Bones.

A man retains the structure of integrity, even after he has sold off the shelves of goods that integrity insisted should never be sold. Michael Winter, The Big Why.

There’s only three weeks until I begin my first residency for the MFA. I’ve had the residency packet for a couple weeks and have been doing big piles of reading in preparation for this. They’ve added a few new instructors and since one of the workshop sessions will be what’s billed as a “wildcard session” […]

In the matter of belief, I have always found that defenses have the same irrelevance about them as the criticisms they are meant to answer. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead.

Amusing and accurate infographic. Apparently a dead link, but I found the image elsewhere and I’m copying it here.

I heard my self using a snotty tone to Judge Prowse. I was put off by it. But then wondered where snottiness comes from. It comes from an attempt to be funny and companionable. And this striving stems from a sense that one is not secure of confident—it’s a lack of confidence. That one feels […]

There’s a mystery in the thought of the re-creation of an old man as an old man, with all the defects and injuries of what is called long life faithfully preserved in him, and all their claims and all their tendencies honored, too, as in the steady progress of arthritis in my left knee.   […]