Have you ever watched one of those nature documentaries about colorful island birds that organize and reorganize their nests, looking for the perfect design of twig and leaf? They chirp, they flit, they bounce, and they gather until the nest becomes a Platonic form shining in an abstract firmament. Well, that’s me. I don’t seem…

I have stumbled into one of the writing traps that I warn my students against: too much plot for a short story. As my story ideas progressed, it became more and more evident that I could not fit them into short-story form. It’s time to eliminate the excess. This wrong turn put me into a…

I’m working on a few puzzles for my time-travel story to illustrate what a character finds in some typescripts produced by chimpanzees, i.e. the infinite monkey theorem. Although I’ll probably circle the hidden words in my story, I am curious as to whether readers can find the text on their own. A famous literary passage…

*Click on images to find sources. Addendum: Walter Benjamin equates dehistoricized art with fascism and art returned to historical context with communism. What remains clear is that art and the artist, particularly in the digital age, have little say in how art (and image) is received by the public. The battle over retaining historical context…

Article referenced: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-privacy-facial-recognition.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Library Event in South Florida: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tell-your-story-ii-its-your-write-tickets-80786244833

While my YouTube habits tend to send me into the Typosphere, my girlfriend frequently watches videos pertaining to RV life. She recently watched a video that extolled some essentials for BLM camping. One particular item was the solar-powered Luci light. They come in different colors and intensities, and, after a good day of charging in…

Today was the first day of classes. All in all, they went well. First days are always a bit stuffy: cover the major parts of the syllabus and discuss the schedule, assignments, and expectations. A bit boring, but clarity is important. This evening I put some work into revamping my writing area. The plot in…

Revising work to make life easier. Link to freshman writing course: https://enc1101composition.wordpress.com