Archive for November, 2008
A Derivation of Love (3 of 8)
Wednesday, September 5th, 1984
A short lilt of uneven steps, with peeling paint and exposed wood, fell from a large porch that was awkwardly attached to a massive house. Behind the house, a garden, disorderly and unkempt, encircled a large dilapidated shed. In front of the shed, a stretch of yellow, brittle, and dry grass [...]
The Root of All Squares (Co-written with Sam Varteniuk)
Two men enter, STAN and WORKER. STAN is carrying a role of black tape.
WORKER
So I was pointing out irony to Uncle Hoary when a man walks in, leading a fat spaniel and carrying a birdcage.
STAN stops, tapes a square approximately two feet square on the ground
WORKER
Why did you tape a square on the [...]
A Derivation of Love (2 of 8)
Wednesday, April 30th, 1993
The cool of the air-conditioning touched Desmond’s skin where the tangle of his blanket was absent. He lay still and concentrated on remembering the girl. He tried to remember her not as a dream but as she had been up until the very last instant before waking, as she had been before [...]
A Derivation of Love (1 of 8)
Monday, April 28th, 1980
Across the street from the subdivision in which they lived, the children waited for the school bus. The unfinished subdivision had opened recently and, without roads, sidewalks, or lawns, the almost identical townhouses were marooned in mud and connected by wooden-planks. The clearing, where the children gathered, was uneven and muddy and, like [...]
What should I do with my life? A plausible answer.
Poverty is one of the primary causes of suffering.
So,
1) I will pursue an end which allows me to accumulate wealth and I will transfer some of it to a person living in poverty and/or to a person or organization working to eliminate poverty. The end I pursue will not itself directly contribute to suffering.
2) or, [...]
Art and Society’s Change
To characterize the affects and effects of persons as the affects and effects of art is an old and easy error that distracts persons from some basic facts: a person or persons, employing a variety of tools, sometimes can predictably affect their environment; a tool is a tool only because persons use it to affect [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )The Ascension (Revised)
Life on our planet owes its existence to a middle-aged sun which receives nothing in return for its accidental gift. Perhaps, one day, our species—or some other species—will discover a means to keep the aged sun’s fading light forever stoked and, in this way, repay life’s extraordinary debt. The sun’s debt to gravity, I fear, [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )An Incident of Reflection
Her smile is closer to perfection than perfection because perfection achieved is a promise broken and her smile approaches perfection but never achieves it—the promise fulfilled.
“What’s wrong?”
She sees it before he feels it.
The longing for something outside of this. The longing for purpose and meaning and purpose. The transcendent.
“Hey, I’m still here, mister.”
From the top [...]
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