The Austin fashion police are very particular. You can enter the library in flip-flops, in fancy, shimmering socks and sandals, in teeny-tiny shorts, wearing blue-and-green anything, wearing Spock ears, wearing a T-shirt that still asks, "Who shot JR?", knee pads, fingerless gloves covered in pixie dust, a vest that comes halfway down your belly, lace … Continue reading NO HATS
So, it's Sunday morning, and I’m awake early and ready to do…something. This is why I’m soon standing in a coffee shop, ordering my medium latte and cinnamon roll. Order placed, I take my note pad and iPad to a 2-seat table. I check the football scores, begin what is, I discover, a cinnamon roll … Continue reading On Becoming Joe
The young guy at the bus station, he loved his post office. Opened 'til five, he said. Sweet frizzy-haired woman sold him stamps and gave him free packaging. Uh-huh, I said, looking down the road, watching for the number 30 driven by that sweet little red head. The young fella wouldn't stop going on about … Continue reading U.S. Post Office
When I was told that I had to have my wisdom teeth out, I immediately decided that, unlike my last surgery, I was going to go down the Scaredy-Cat route and be knocked out. I was confident that in the great USA, this would be a chemical concussion, rather than the empty-beer-bottle approach I imagined … Continue reading On Lost Body Parts: Teeth
I didn't read it, but I think this is a prime example of the southern Gothic tradition in American storytelling. I'm only guessing, mind, but I'm pretty sure that this character - pig (note the absence of a capital "P" - this poor soul is lost in lowercase) - makes it to the deep South … Continue reading pig
I am now a responsible and upstanding member of society. But once, when I was younger…well, I was still a responsible and upstanding member of society. Only I didn’t necessarily look like one. I had ear-rings, long hair, a tattoo. And nerdy glasses and nerdy body language. Now, I have much less hair, I have … Continue reading On Lost Body Parts: Hair
The Lantex Theater is many things. Too many things to list on a sign this small in this font. Let us save time. Let us list merely what we are not. We are not a 3-D theater, despite the slightly run-down, small-town, 1950s feel of the place. Please leave your disappointment and wiseacre comments at … Continue reading Not a 3-D Theater
Se7en is a famously polarizing movie: the decay and bleakness of the surroundings, the bodies, the blade dildo, the head in a box. And, seeing that movie again, these landmarks are all present and correct; familiar, inevitable, but still with a power to disturb. (Incidentally, I had a small epiphany when watching the movie this … Continue reading On Re-Watching Se7en
Small Change on Strangers 