The garden is drying up for the year. I’ve thrown so much work into it, it’s hard to see it die, but this is all part of the process. Pretty soon I’ll shovel compost over the vegetable patch and cover it in cardboard, to swelter and fertilize during the winter months. I’m already plotting how to have an even better garden next year. I’m making diagrams. I’ve saved some seeds from my very biggest Mammoth Gray Stripe sunflower. I’m going... Read more
I have a message for all of my readers in Ohio. And if you know someone who lives in Ohio, you’d better pass this along to them. There are three essential things I want you to do right now, if you live in Ohio. The first, is to go out to your vegetable patch and prune your tomato vines. Just go ahead and prune them ruthlessly. Get a good pair of kitchen shears, and snip off every branch of... Read more
I saw them getting on the bus, a long time ago now. They were two Latin gentlemen; they had warm dark tan skin and black hair. They were talking to each other in rapid Spanish that I couldn’t follow well even though I studied Spanish for years– by their accent, I think they were Mexican. I didn’t know them to talk to, but I knew them as people who lived in town and rode the bus most evenings. Everyone... Read more
I went to see the Homecoming parade. High school homecoming in a town in the Ohio river valley is our version of Mardi Gras. Our local, notorious public high school is downtown by the river where there’s no room for a stadium, so the stadium is up by the middle school just a little ways from my house. The players, the cheerleaders, the marching band and the Homecoming court parade down Brady Avenue from the park to the school... Read more
It hasn’t been the best summer. August would have been just fine, if it hadn’t been for June and July. For the first time in my life I was almost breaking even before June; I needed about again as many writing projects as I was doing, new writing work anywhere I could get it, and then I’d not be worried and could be happy, but I was managing pretty well anyway. But then I had the two months... Read more
Today I am angry. Yesterday, I tried to lay out the origins of the racist conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are eating cats in Springfield, Ohio. Today, we got to see what happens in Ohio when a presidential candidate and his running mate spread such conspiracy theories. I already reported on how the parents of young Aiden Clark, who was accidentally killed by a Haitian immigrant, are suffering horrendous trauma because racist Republican politicians have used their son’s name... Read more
Before anyone ask me: no, immigrants are not eating dogs and cats here in Ohio. Let’s back up a little so that I can explain why this is even a question. Last night ABC aired the first, and probably only, Trump versus Harris presidential debate. In case you didn’t catch all the fun, I live tweeted it. Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, dressed in a meticulously tailored suit and Stiletto heels, carefully laid out her policy proposals and made... Read more
It was a glorious day, but I wasn’t feeling glorious. I’d caught Adrienne’s head cold over the weekend, and I was now in the getting-over-it stage: no cough, no fever for over 24 hours, just exhaustion and a headache. I was lying on the couch, scrolling on my phone, cursing myself for having a head too foggy to write. I’d thought of how long it was since I was able to go to church and wondered if God hated me... Read more
Hey friends, This is not a real blog post, this is my periodic blogkeeping post where I talk about things I did lately. And I’m a little late for the beginning of September. I haven’t written one of these since June and I’m ashamed to say I haven’t accomplished much until September, with being sick for two months straight and losing all of my writing projects. However, I am thrilled to announce that I am back to getting published... Read more
Donald Trump’s campaign appearances have been a bit loopier than usual this week. He’s started to talk about gender-reassignment surgeries that are supposedly happening at school. I know I said I would try to cram my politics update into one post per week, but I also said I’d have to talk politics more often as we got closer and closer to election day, and here I am. In the past several days, Trump has been repeating a series of bizarre... Read more
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