A desperate bid to rediscover creativity
Work, work, work. The daily grind. Life in the trenches.
Waking up to Donald Trump's victory elicited a combination of anger, sadness and disappointment. Hate and fear and division won the day. Fifty years after its advent, the bright, inclusive future that Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek promised seems more distant in the aftermath of yesterday's election. It's also more imperative a goal now than before.
BY DAVID HOPKINS Source: How a TV Sitcom Triggered the Downfall of Western Civilization — Medium
Fiction for all that it frees the writer to bend the world to our will can still seem a step too far beyond reality when we create a certain situation or a character. It would be hard to believe that someone could get to the queen's bedroom if Michael Fagan hadn't done it. Or that… Continue reading Baseball is stranger than fiction
In the closing hours of the last day of the long, bloody, soul-wracking 2014 Christmas shopping season, hours before Boxing Day month begins, I must remind every consumer, all of us, to do their duty to the utmost. You must remain strong, resolute, and sharp-eyed for that last item on your list. You must keep your… Continue reading The Battle of Christmas Present
This is my best friend's daughter, Sarah Boutcher, performing Thinking Out Loud, by Ed Sheeran, and also Sia's Chandelier. It's amazing to see how good she's become. I wish her all the best as she pursues her passion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_fHDkUazKg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cuL_Iu3-8
It's not technically winter, but it feels like it. The snow swirls in the headlights, and the mix of salt and spray from fellow travellers need constant applications of washer fluid. Further on no one's left on the road I'm driving. It's dark, it's isolating, cold, and the air from the car's defroster is drying out my eyes.… Continue reading A Canadian highway on a winter night
In a word: Don't. In more words: Don't unless you have the time for another hobby. If you're anything other than a full-time writer then home ownership is a time-consuming endeavour. If you start in a new house that still takes your time. There are upgrades, like painting the walls other than builder's beige, put… Continue reading A Writer’s Guide to Home Ownership
This list is prompted by a long road trip I recently took. While driving I endured several of the places listed below. These are the most dehumanizing, soul-crushing, depressing or bleak places that I believe we've created for ourselves in the modern world. Enjoy!Traffic jams - sometimes far removed from recognizable human habitats, highways can be a… Continue reading Bleak places
Young artists and anyone getting into a risky career path that doesn't involve sitting in a cube or standing at a factory line is likely told, "have a fallback position/safety net, that you can do if this doesn't work out." It's well meaning advice given by those who care about your future or happiness. It's… Continue reading Your fallback is a trap
For three months we had a visitor in our house; a little 6.5 kilo being that worked his way into the fabric of our family as though he'd always been there, and now he's leaving to go home. He came to us by way of my mother-in-law, who fell ill and couldn't care for him.… Continue reading Temporary dog
Dispatches from Obscurity 