There are times during the holidays that I get overwhelmed by the crowds. I went to one of the malls that fester about on the landscape. People were relatively benign yet the amount of humanity and cars came close to gridlock. We all played parking bingo for spaces. It’s akin to musical chairs with cars.Continue reading “Tis the Season”
Author Archives: Norm Benson
True Stories
I’m going through a patch of writer’s block. Nothing I write seems to be interesting (including this post, no doubt). I have fifty pages that I like and I know where I want to go; I just can’t seem to write the bridge to take me across the literary chasm. My characters have grown impatientContinue reading “True Stories”
2007 Bulwer-Lytton Contest Winners
The Department of English & Comparative Literature at the California State University of San Jose State University has announced the 2007 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest The winner of 2007 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is Jim Gleeson, a 47-year-old media technician from Madison, Wisconsin. According to the English Dept’s website, Gleeson is working on aContinue reading “2007 Bulwer-Lytton Contest Winners”
The Best Music You’ve Never Heard
I picked up a remaindered book by Michael Connelly a month or two ago. The Narrows was published in 2004 and shrink wrapped with a DVD titled “Blue Neon Night: Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles.” On it, Connelly tells a bit about the detective he writes about: Harry Bosch. Excerpts from his stories are read asContinue reading “The Best Music You’ve Never Heard”
That '70s Stuff
In 1977, I was 26 and had been married a year. See how I dressed and my dining room on the 15 Minute Lunch blog here. After this, go watch Battle of the Network Stars II. Fifteen year old Kristy McNichol is so cute.
That ’70s Stuff
In 1977, I was 26 and had been married a year. See how I dressed and my dining room on the 15 Minute Lunch blog here. After this, go watch Battle of the Network Stars II. Fifteen year old Kristy McNichol is so cute.
Controlling, Preventing, Wildfire in California and Other Pipedreams
I listened to the 27 October podcast of KCRW’s Left, Right, and Center as I do every week. They discussed the recent fires in California (and other political wonkish stuff). In the program, the moderator Matt Miller (holding down the center) wondered whether preparations were adequate and whether money could have been better spent (ratherContinue reading “Controlling, Preventing, Wildfire in California and Other Pipedreams”
We Don't Own a Boat
Two of the happiest days in one’s life are the day one gets a boat… Mary had a sailboat. The storms during the winter had reduced the number of functional cleats to one. During Mary’s ownership, it sank twice (Note the black tube on the starboard side–this is connected to a bilge pump). If itContinue reading “We Don't Own a Boat”
We Don’t Own a Boat
Two of the happiest days in one’s life are the day one gets a boat… Mary had a sailboat. The storms during the winter had reduced the number of functional cleats to one. During Mary’s ownership, it sank twice (Note the black tube on the starboard side–this is connected to a bilge pump). If itContinue reading “We Don’t Own a Boat”
There’s something you don’t see everyday, Edgar
For reasons known only to sociologists and writers (fiction writers are free to make stuff up as long as it sounds plausible), Memorial and Labor Day Weekends provide the bookends to summer for Americans. In that time that we Americans define as summer, Clear Lake squeals (see my previous discussion in Anthropology 101), throbs withContinue reading “There’s something you don’t see everyday, Edgar”
Nullius in Verba 