Sometimes I wish to be a bird. To rule the world from high and low. To flit about on the sultry air; to catch my dinner in midair; to land on a branch and sing. Sunshine on my feathers, water from a bath. Gliding above the summer grass; streaking along a shaded path; fearless, peerless, a mighty king. Married only to the currents. No need for validation. Oh, what a wondrous thing. *** Jim Mitchem
Two friends have lunch. “All I’m saying is that you voted for the amendment banning gay marriage – and you’re an idiot.” Man One said. “Ok, ok, you can be mean all you want, but you sound like a sore loser to me. Look, I get it, you want people to love each other. Right. That’s awesome. But I have news for you pal, it’s not going to happen. It’s never been that way, and it not gonna start being…
A few weeks ago I scratched my chest causing a tiny, little sore to appear. I put some Bactine on it and didn’t think of it again until a week later when it hadn’t healed. I usually heal very fast. I asked my wife to look at it. She said it was nothing. I said it was cancer. I was joking. Another week went by and it still hadn’t healed. I cranked up the cancer rhetoric as a way to…
As a boy, I only saw my father every other weekend when he’d come pick up me in Jacksonville and take me down to his house near Gainesville. My father was a racist. I don’t think he really thought of himself as a racist, but he was. And I could have easily become one too, but for my mother who raised me the rest of the time. She was not a racist. In fact, as the result of my father…
Yesterday, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys died. Of cancer. He was 47. I wasn’t much of a Beastie Boys fan, but it’s sad that a young man died of cancer, nonetheless. And it makes me wonder. I am 47. Cancer doesn’t run in my family. My grandmother had it, but as far as I know she’s the only one. Her son, who is 75, smokes two packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day. No cancer. I grew up in Florida…
Don’t color outside the lines. Don’t dilly dally. Don’t forget to brush your teeth. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t give me that look, mister. Don’t cross the street without looking both ways. Don’t throw it right down the middle of the plate! Don’t cry over spilled milk. Don’t say I didn’t tell you so. Don’t turn your back on me, young man. Don’t cheat. Don’t do drugs. Don’t screw this up. Don’t have unprotected sex. Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t…
