Category: my old journal
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A visit with my younger self: 6 July 1998
It’s interesting to me that I find the following more humiliating than my account of stalkerish behavior. Writing requires two talents: that of description and that of imagination. That the two may exist separately is clearly acknowledged; that they may only thrive together cannot be denied. Story idea, An old man deals with the death of a friend much…
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A visit with my younger self: 3 July 1988
My next journal entry showed some ambitious plans: Outline for “Lilith” (epic poem in blank verse) Book I—Lilith’s arrival at the Red Sea. She meets the demons (souls without bodies). She acquaints them with her history and becomes mistress to them all. Book II—Adam’s realization that Lilith shall not return voluntarily. He tells his story…
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A visit with my younger self: 1 July 1988
Another entry which is nothing more than a story idea: Another story idea—A professional young woman (say about 30) meets a young college student (about 20). Becomes “involved.” Explore problems of such a relationship. Perhaps we will give the woman a roommate as a foil. This seems barely baked as ideas go. I never did…
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A visit with my younger self: 30 June 1988
Once I lost my daily habit, it turned into a less than weekly habit as I didn’t write another entry for almost two weeks. This time, I wrote down a collection of story ideas (story ideas are cheap—my punk-ass self was crapping these out like a gringo tourist in rural Mexico). Story ideas:“Rite of Passage”…
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A visit with my younger self: 18 June 1988
Well, I missed a day for the first time back in 1988 and I return with an entry that is embarrassing in more ways than one: Why do people read or watch movies or TV or whatever? More than ever, I’m convinced that it’s because we’re all looking for answers but we aren’t even sure…
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A visit with my younger self: 16 June 1988
Wow, I was being quite dilligent about keeping up this diary back in the olden days. Thoughts about “A little dignity”—How did Phillotson become the man he is? What trigger the bressedown, I think something here is a façade, but what? Is, the dignified Phillotson rool on is the comical)? Why not lead the reader…
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A visit with my younger self: 15 June 1988
A bit of context on these journal entries, I suppose. This was the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college. I had a job working at the University of Illinois at Chicago computer center. I forget what I was doing that year, although if I remember correctly, I was working in the Medical…
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A visit with my younger self: 14 June 1988
I encountered recently a writer who was publishing his old journal entries on Substack, and it occurred to me that there was probably nothing that private about my old journal entries that I couldn’t do the same, so here it is. “Rescuer”—A boy who wants to grow up to be a hero.. When the opportunity arrives…