The formula is Tragedy + Time = Comedy. I first became aware of this when I heard about comedian Tig Notaro and how she turned her diagnosis of breast cancer into a comedy routine. Regular readers know my own mother died last Sunday, April 12th. The further away from that date, the more the sorrow
RUTH MARY WELBAUM 1921-2015 Mom had been weakened by another bout of pneumonia. Thursday morning her caregivers put her to bed after breakfast; when they checked on her two hours later, she was laying on the floor. We don’t know what happened, but she had a broken leg. She deteriorated rapidly after that and
Last night I saw the musical Peter Pan at Wright State University. It was based on the play by Sir James M. Barrie with all the traditional details — a colored light representing Tinker Bell, the role of Peter played by a young lady, and the audience clapping to save Tinker Bell after she drinks the
I guess we all do stupid things. Fortunately, it’s been awhile for me. In fact, this episode happened several years ago. I wrote about it then to convince myself I was turning a negative into a positive. At least about as positive as an emergency-room visit can get. And I’ll repeat it here in the hope
I got home yesterday after a long day of substitute school teaching (middle school French, that’s all you need to know), turned on the faucet at the kitchen sink and… Nothing. Panicked, I tried the hall bathroom. Nothing there either. A broken line? There were no puddles in the yard. Forgot to pay the water
Today I received the following email — Congratulations! You are among the 32 contributors in prose and poetry represented in Bewildering Stories’ First Quarterly Review of 2015, now officially on line. We like to think of the Quarterly Reviews as offering safe harbour on the chaotic sea of the Internet. The Review Editors are very
Does anyone else have trouble with touchscreens? I’m finding they’re pretty much everywhere — my phone, my iPod, my netbook computer… I once got a notebook computer and had to take it back; either I would touch it and nothing would happen (multiple times!) or it would open windows when my finger was still a
“The Joy in Forgotten Objects” The good folks at Bewildering Stories have posted another of my stories. Usually they want multiple rewrites or reject them outright, but this one went right to the publication schedule. http://www.bewilderingstories.com/is…/forgotten_objects.html
What’s the most eye-catching opening line of anything you have ever read? I like to pick a work at random and just read the first line to see how interesting it sounds. “Once upon a time…” just doesn’t cut it anymore. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
I see Forbes magazine has published its billionaires list again. http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/ What would it be like to have that much money? I have no idea myself. But twice in my life I’ve gotten a glimpse of wealthy lifestyles. It’s like some careless person has left the door ajar, and I got to peek inside. The first