The Philosopher’s Bed Time Story

“Tell me about the way We used to live.” A cross between philosopher And child, this one is. “Moral Geography it is, then,” He’d grumble back, “The pleasure of the sound of ice in the whiskey glass Before my father had a bad thing to say. The question of whose fault it is when the […]

I didn’t change

I didn’t change my clothes that day. Just home after a game of basketball. Tennessee hot, even in what should have been fall, made me sweat all the time even then. And then a scream on the other end of the landline (when we still had those) of grief and confusion. Seventeen years later, I […]

Gentrification #2

I hear him wailing. My hound dog and I have taken to walking through the neighborhood as of late. He has discovered that he is more of a city dog than anything else. He no longer has the patience or the guts for the woods. His ears will pick up the noise of a hawk […]

1982. 1998. 2018. My Mom and the World’s Fair

In 1982, my mom let me skip a day of school. She would never do that again. It was the next to last day of kindergarten, and instead of going to school, my mom and I loaded a bus for Knoxville, TN, and took a little day trip to the 1982 World’s Fair. It’s one […]

Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, and George Reeves

The first celebrity death by suicide that I can remember being conscious of was George Reeves. I knew him from the syndicated reruns of the 1950s Adventures of Superman television series, which would occasionally run on the local TV station in the late 70s and early 80s. As a superhero-obsessed kid, I devoured anything I could […]

The Kids On TV

My friend Erin Wathen asked me to guest blog on her Patheos site, Irreverin, this week. I decided to write about my experience with the young leaders of Chattanooga Students Leading Change. You can read my entry here.

Another Confession for William Carlos Williams

I have five stories about myself If I tell them all to you you will understand everything there is to know about me. I will tell them all in rapid succession while I have you here Because if you leave before you know, you will forget, and then who will I be?