19cartwheels

First, I dreamt I was in a collegiate art class, and then this girl drew a glyph on the wall outside which summoned forth from the earth a division of WWII-era tanks ... with minds of their own! One of them had the personality of Patton. Things turned to rubble quickly.Next, I dreamt that I was passing time in the last house my grandparents ever lived in, when a tall politician walked in and fired everyone (from what? I dunno) before I could shut the door in his face (and I did).Then, I dreamt that while escaping a tense and awkward but otherwise ordinary house remodeling project, an athlete (?) threw a hammer at me. So I picked it up and ...

At the public library where I work, there are two groups of computer terminals, at which one may use Microsoft Office, spend life on the internet 60 minutes at a time, or search the collections belonging to several libraries in the region. Excepting a scattershot but otherwise hefty catalogue of free-to-check-out DVDs for kids, the internet access these terminals provide seems, at times, to be the only reason the library exists. Adults read gossip columns and keep up on email while teens and other youths fritter away their evenings before the poorly animated characters of free-to-play video games. This is nothing inherently awful: towns al...

While there's little for me to say about being a brand new parent that hasn't already been said–or felt, at least–by billions of people the world over, I've two recurring thoughts these five or six days into fatherhood. The first has to do with something Bruce Springsteen said in an interview or onstage some years ago–how when his first son was born, the event felt so profound that he stepped outside and couldn't believe that people were still out there shopping. When I'm not sleeping or tending to Claire or helping my wife around the house, I remind myself of those words. I tell myself to not be surprised if I'm struck with a chasm of fee...