They come in on cat’s paws called Benson & Hedges Lights 100s. Because they’re girl cigarettes, they’re not real. Your best friend stole some from his sister. His older, hot sister. And you light up because there’s nothing else to do. Then you’re hooked. Mostly for the cool of it, but not really. The addiction takes hold quickly on the backend without you realizing it. Then comes the drink. And drugs. But mostly the drink, because it’s more accessible. Only…
I live in NC, but grew up in the Deep South. I know what you’re thinking, that NC is the Deep South – but it’s not. I was born in Northeast Florida and lived there until I was 13, when my parents, who were very young and naïve, ripped my life out from under me and moved us to Baton Rouge, and then Houston a year later. I grew up thinking that anything above Interstate 10 wasn’t really the Deep…
Coffee. Children. Dogs. Cleaning a desk and preparing to write. Too much preparing. A bite to eat, and then sitting down. The phone rings, naturally, and I take it outside. It’s clearer out there. I pace the perimeter of the yard like a king surveying his dominion – apologizing to the grass as I needlessly trample it. I am coherent. Sharp. The call ends and I linger outside as the dogs demand that I engage them. I throw a ball…
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet Peter Shankman. You probably already know about him, so I don’t have to give you those details. What you probably don’t know is that he’s a really good guy. I met him via Twitter over the winter, and he happened to be in Asheville yesterday, so I drove over from Charlotte. We had a coffee and then I sat in on his keynote address at the Carolina Connect conference, which focused on modern…
Osama Bin Laden is dead. Unlike many of my friends, I don’t feel vindicated, however. And don’t give me the ‘you’re not a New Yorker – you don’t know how it feels’ crap, either. It’s true, I didn’t know anyone directly who died on 9/11/01, and I wasn’t in the city when it happened, but for you to imply that every American citizen didn’t feel what happened that day in a way that affected their core forever, then you’re delusional…
Sitting at my desk. A pile of unnecessary receipts on the floor next to me. It’s the end of the month and things are getting reconciled. A stream of sunlight enters and floods the corner of my right eye, then bounces in my eyeglasses with every punch of a key. I type very deliberately. A little dog walks across the receipts, oblivious to their significance, and puts his front paws on my left leg. He stretches and wags. I ignore him…
