Stories of Suspense with a Sense of Humor
When I first went to the Moth to tell stories, back in 2017, one of the regulars there was a woman around my age who consistently told moving stories and told them well. She was naturally funny and got lots of laughs. The crowd and the judges loved her. I kind of hated her. My … Read more
One of the Homeric tales in my family, retold at gatherings with my brothers, is called The Epiphany on the Big Dipper. Here is that tale… From the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, my family made an annual visit to Geauga Lake, an amusement park in Ohio. One of my older brothers was taken … Read more
The past two weeks have been as busy as possible without some tragedy befalling, but we were very near tragedy. We fell for a phishing scam. My friends, it’s not fun. My wife took the call and fell under the spell of the man on the phone. She believed what he told her and did … Read more
I’m writing you from Brooklyn, New York, where I’m visiting my kid. Things are strange here compared to the suburbs of Lansing, but the basics still work fine. Smile at someone’s dog as they walk by and you get a smile back, either from the dog or the walker. Say hello and they’ll smile and … Read more
A new book is making the rounds of popularity in the circles where I hang out (Twitter and Substack) as writer after writer proclaims the book’s awesomeness. It’s Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, and I’m never going to read it. It’s not that I think the book is a bunch of hooey. On the contrary, … Read more