Blue Phlox
Blue phlox. The color of my childhood room. Not quite purple, not quite blue, and the perfect color for me. I don’t remember how I decided on the color. I do remember going to Home Depot and getting...
View ArticleDragging the Reader Along Until the Last Page
The back cover synopsis of Bernard Cooper’s book Maps to Anywhere, explaining how Cooper “digs into the glimmering surface of the southern California landscape, observing the collision of the American...
View ArticleCalculus for the Auditory Learner
He pulls my exam from a stack, looks through the first three problems, commenting on my understanding of logarithms. He pauses on problem four, and silently flips through the remaining pages. I sit in...
View ArticleUpper Crust
Everything is bathed in a soft light as home cooks enter the MasterChef kitchen. It looks like a dream. Stainless steel everything. Ovens have windows so you can peek at your food without letting the...
View ArticleIndulge in Subversion with Cameron Diaz in “Bad Teacher”
NOTE: Written for a class assignment where we had to choose a “bad” movie with the following criteria: 1. Score 50% or less on Rotten Tomatoes. 2. Not be a “box office hit.” 3. Not be a “cult classic.”...
View ArticleA Guide on Living Your Creative Life
You’re forgiven if you expected Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert to have the same whiny voice as Eat Pray Love. You’re also forgiven for taking the summary on the back,...
View ArticleThe Power of Observation Applied with Wit
In Rants from the Hill: On Packrats, Bobcats, Wildfires, Curmudgeons, A Drunken Mary Kay Lady & Other Encounters with the Wild in the High Desert, Michael P. Branch applies his keen eye for...
View ArticleSkillfully Using the Double Vantage Point in “Educated”
It doesn’t take long to get sucked into Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated. Her descriptions of scenery, people, and actions are vivid and sometimes poetic. The real beauty of Educated, however, is...
View ArticleThe Chronicles of Riley: 4 Days In
This is Riley, a 9-week old rescue I adopted on Wednesday. Riley all tuckered out from the morning. He’s adorable, and has been my shadow. His little feet pad behind me, sometimes in front of me,...
View ArticleChronicles of Riley: A Milestone
Big milestone today: Riley went into his crate himself! We spent the day working on sit and stay. He has sit down, even without prompting. He stays as long as I don’t open my bedroom door, then he...
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