In the music video for David Berman's late-career song “Darkness and Cold”, which is either a harrowing suicide note or a comic resignation to living depending on your perspective, Berman's actual ex-wife Cassie (erstwhile bass player and secondary vocalist for the Silver Jews) glams up in the bathroom mirror for a date with someone else,... Continue Reading →
...you might come off like a housecat dragging home a kill. You think you've given people a treasure, but their only thought might well be, "ew". ...while you might feel unburdened, they may associate you with unwanted emotional labor, and they have the right to say to themselves, "Nope" ...you might remind them of a... Continue Reading →
I had a performance review at work today, and it was surreal. That is not to say it was negative. By all accounts I am doing what I am paid to do, and doing it well. It was, however, suggested that recent changes to my job description might have "re-engaged" me. That is an interesting... Continue Reading →
(Current music: Harry Nilsson, "My Good Old Desk")I should start by acknowledging my last (tongue-in-cheek) entry and mentioning that, by all outward appearances, my "romantic prospect" has passed on my offer (turns out they are seeking a more serious commitment), so that is not a thing. Plus, working on my "marriage" has been taking up... Continue Reading →
(Note: This will probably be the only time I feature a craptastic stock photo about relationship drama, so SOAK IT UP, PEOPLE)My last entry nodded to elder millennials getting out of marriages they chose in their twenties. Well, I, too, am continuing to feel sour toward a stale marriage I chose in my twenties, and... Continue Reading →
"Cyrano is one of the most romantic movies ever made, but it’s not quite a traditional love story in that nobody really finds true love in it. It’s all evasion, heartache, yearning. This is the romance of hidden thoughts and desires, of urges barely spoken (but often unabashedly sung), of a sweet pain we all secretly... Continue Reading →
Last summer an Instagram account I follow, whose creator (a local artist) captures forest fungi and other specimens, featured a photo of a mushroom I'd never heard of before. Laccaria amethystina, the amethyst deceiver. In addition to it being a purple mushroom, which is already mysterious and cool, the name arrested me at first sight.... Continue Reading →
Darlene Conner, I'm calling you my Valentine because it's nearly February 14 and you're hella important to me. But I never had a crush on you; I just identified with you deeply (as, I'm sure, did scores of mold-breaking, sarcastic-but-vulnerable, masculine-energied young girls in the 1990s). Some of us were paying closer attention than others.... Continue Reading →
If y’all don’t know, I’m a pretty awkward bird. Not that I don’t hide it well on certain days, or up to a certain point. But to my mind, at least, awkward remains the default. Even now, a decade and a half into my career, well-compensated and provided with plenty of opportunity, I feel out-of-step... Continue Reading →
Legend has it that, in the late 1960s, the Wiggin sisters were pulled out of school by a dad who was under the influence of a fortune teller (and/or looking to get rich quick). Instruments were shoved into their hands in an attempt to mold them into a Walton-style family band called the Shaggs. They... Continue Reading →
The Sold Kingdom 