Man to Man
My wife sent me the story My Cousin Was My Hero. Until the Day He Tried to Kill Me. from Wil S. Hylton to listen to. It’s pretty intense. Ultimately it’s a story about masculinity and how it plays out in two different men. Part of the ending: The Pantheon of Male Tropes… Masculinity is […]
Why We Play (Gemstone)
I’ve mentioned over on ShopTalk Show a times (here’s one) that I’ve been playing (again) a text-based MMORPG called Gemstone IV. I wrote a nostolgia-powered blog post about the game over 10 years ago right here, so, uh, wow. It’s been a while. The game still inspires nostoliga-powered blog posts, like Elizabeth Landau’s I Had […]
Chairs
My wife bought some little felt pads to go under our dining room chairs. They were probably like, a few bucks. They are really nice! They made the chair slide across the wood floor a bit more quietly and nicely, not to mention scratch it up less. While we were putting them on, I was […]
In Tune: A Community of Musicians
I miss old-time and bluegrass festivals (reminder: they’re different!) so much. There was a time in my life that my mental state was “life is just something I have to do between festivals”. I miraculously have old-time musician friends here in Bend, but of course, we haven’t been getting together at all during the pandemic. […]
Guessed Wrong
Me in 2017: Just a guess, but as much resisting and activism and outrage as there is out there, he’s headed for re-election. I was wrong! Thank god. My whole guess was that anybody that voted for Trump in 2016 got what they wanted and would vote for him again, and then some. I’m not […]
OrbitKey
I’ve been using a standard-grade carabiner for my keyring for a long time. I like how it makes it easy to hang from a hook, a thing our family does. But the carabiner spring started getting weak, and besides, my fidgety nature was always playing with the closing latch thing and having the rings fall […]
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Hanif Abdurraqib: Welch sings with her entire face — when a song bends toward joy, she almost can’t help smiling, and when a song bends toward sorrow, she looks contemplative, sometimes heartbroken, sometimes resigned to whatever the song’s fate may be. But her voice is consistent and clear, always. It resonates in the heart first: […]
Milverine
I miss Milwaukee sometimes. Who? This dude.