Ray Bradbury passed away yesterday. I am saddened by the loss of one of my childhood heros, and my heart goes out to his family and friends. My earliest memories of being truly intrigued by a book came from him. The book was Something Wicked This Way Comes. I was… Continue reading
Preface: Many years ago, my father wrote a skit, replete with bad jokes, for the family to perform on Christmas Eve. We all had parts and none of us, other than my dad, had read any of the skit before being thrust into the dramatic performance. It nearly came to… Continue reading
I’ve been thinking about the important connections in my life – those things and relationships I would willingly endure real sacrifices to maintain. The list isn’t startling – my husband, my son, my family and close friends, one of my old bosses, my internet access (yes, it does rise to… Continue reading
Fiction has created some great characters as the embodiment of pure evil. Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, Sauron in Lord of the Rings, Evil (by definition) in Time Bandits, and perhaps the Baron Harkonnen in Dune are good examples. Real life rarely creates such clear examples of evil, although… Continue reading
I don’t like boxes. They are a necessary part of intelligence and experiential learning – the ability to categorize objects, people, and ideas into groups that allow us to predict their actions and characteristics. It is how we know that something heavy for its surface area will drop like a… Continue reading
She dances in the moonlight, feet barely skimming the earth as she spins, arms spread to the heavens, beckoning the stars to her embrace. And they obey. Laughter at the sheer joy of every moment flows around her, draws others to her like honey – spiced with her wit and… Continue reading
The searing summer heat stuck in Mala’s thick feathers. Her children squawked, stumbling around as she tried to ignore them. She waddled down the grassy path in search of some cool water – and peace. The ducklings bit their siblings and jumped on each other’s backs, mostly in jest but… Continue reading
Selfish versus selfless. Those were the stakes in Harry Potter. Sure you can call it good versus evil, but those are weighty and imprecise terms. Selfish. Voldemort was selfish to the core. His motivations were self-promotion and self-preservation. He had no friends, and his followers were simply tools. Sounds like… Continue reading
“Chew.” The man was trying to be patient. He could get recalcitrant students to keep up in his economics class, but was failing at this seemingly simple task. The child’s jaw moved twice. Then stopped. The man took a breath. “Terri? Chew.” The rest of the family had finished dinner… Continue reading
The house is quiet. The weak rays of the cloudy evening filter through the curtains, casting the room in an eerie twilight. Or maybe that’s my imagination. I strain to hear … I’m not sure what. I lean back in the chair in the corner, pulling my laptop open and… Continue reading
