I hate Halloween.
I hate having to come up with some stupid costume idea, worrying if it’s too silly or obvious or cryptic. Even when I was a kid, selecting a costume always seemed to me like an afterthought, an evil that was necessary to partake in the holiday ritual. My costumes were always easy, half-assed. [...]
I’m not a very sentimental person, though I have my moments.
And I’m certainly no nature lover, but lately I can’t help but fret and wonder — where have all the bees gone?
I’ve been dismayed over the last six months by the dramatically named “Colony Collapse Disorder,” the inexplicable mass vanishing of millions of bees. [...]
I live in a land where just about everyone under fifty has a tattoo or three or twenty three. This will come as no shock to anyone who knows that I live in North America or, in particular, Long Beach, California. I don’t have any tattoos, which will also come as no shock to anyone [...]
Here’s a conversation I have fairly often with my writing students:
Me: So the point of your essay is, what, “carpe diem”? What does that mean to you, exactly?
Student: It means “seize the day.”
Me: I know that. But what do you mean by “seize the day”?
Student: You know. Like, living life to its fullest.
Me: No, actually, [...]
Recently, I was on a search committee to hire new faculty, which inevitably made me feel pretty damned lucky to have a full-time job (not to mention tenure). On top of that, just yesterday I picked up my “Service Award,” which I received upon… well, having managed to not lose my job in the five [...]