While studying wildlife biology at the University of Georgia, my required reading consisted of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac, and a wide array of scientific journals. And yet I found myself more interested in Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka, and Dickens. Yes, even David Copperfield was more thrilling than sorting through statistical analysis of the visual spectrum of white-tailed deer.
A Blemish In My Love Affair With New York City
We wandered the city heading towards Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree
While I carried my ancient 35mm Voigtlander stopping frequently to take pictures
When I spotted my only wealthy relatives across the street
Forget Fitzgerald, Be You
New ventures tend to inspire misplaced confidence, so when I set out to write my first story, I felt that I could do exactly what Fitzgerald had done. In retrospect, it wasn’t the worst idea––if his prose grasped my attention like that, then surely, if I wrote that way, my stories would hold readers too.
The Grass Is Always Greener
Henry had heard that dinners at Porter’s College were always a pleasant affair, but it seemed that he had somehow misunderstood the fundamental definition of ‘pleasant’.
Purple Gameboy
Mother’s second husband whose fingernails find purchase in her neck draining the stars from her veins.
Shiny Green
He stepped onto the rink but hung onto the low hockey wall till his feet remembered what to do. Over the speaker a voice announced the next number was a jam, so join or stay out of the way. A string of guys formed, like segments of some enormous caterpillar. They leaned into the center on the turns, every step a lunge forward on the beat to “Move It” led by this amazing looking guy in Rasta dreads, shiny green shirt, and jeans plastered on.