Sometimes, objects from our past can surprise us by assuming unexpected new significance.
The Tao of the Cash Register
Category: Stories
Fightin’ Words
It turns out I have a dangerous temper. Dangerous to my identity as a civilized being, not to anyone else. I would have expected to reach this epiphany much earlier in life, but that’s the nature of epiphanies—they slowly form in the caverns of our subconscious and then, one day, when we’re slicing carrots or … Continue reading Fightin’ Words
An Unbearable Brightness of Being
Graduate school gave me mixed signals about intelligence. Every now and then I try to sort them out. Thirty-five years after I earned my master’s degree from the University of Virginia, the nature of my own intellect remains unclear to me. For a long time, I wondered just what kind of "intelligent" I might be—and … Continue reading An Unbearable Brightness of Being
A Year Between Two December Days
It’s kind of spooky how consistent the weather can be from year to year. Even with the effects of global warming, which are unmistakable in upstate New York, a day in December one year is eerily like the previous year. It’s almost enough to make you believe there really is a cosmic clockmaker whose spheres … Continue reading A Year Between Two December Days