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If writers have a responsibility for how they narrate the world, certainly readers have a responsibility for what they consume and from whom.—Roxane Gay It is noteworthy to me that Gay takes the writer’s responsibility for granted. I am interested in the writer reading his or her own work and the responsibility that carries when…
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We have been enjoying the BBC production of Victoria. At the same time, I am mystified by Americans’ obsession with royalty. The radical Chartist Movement is featured in the current Victoria series. It is well to appreciate that what these people asked for should not sound radical to Americans. They were asking for what seems…
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The Gillette commercial announces the company’s revised motto: Instead of “The best a man can get” they urge men to be the best they can be. The response from a narrow group of men has been nearly hysterical. They accuse the commercial of everything from unrealistic to emasculating. Most people I know, including men, including men actively…
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I am ill. Sick. Not sick as in vomiting, which is what that word means in England. This is not England. I have a cold. I have not been this sick in almost five years. The last time I had my morning walk was a week ago. I have been outside the house once since…
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My son had a cat living in his house who knew that he possessed the Secret of the Red Light. Alan had an infrared pen which he shined on the floor and that cat chased from room to room, in circles and mad dashes across the house. Once she he ran the light under the…
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People think they can burn plastic into nothing. No, it turns into lumps I pick up later. And all those illegal fireworks? I am still collecting the refuse from the last blast. However, most of the refuse Gary and I pick up is from ships at sea. I know this because it’s plastic and nylon…
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There was a doe on the beach in front of our house. It is not the first time we’ve seen a deer on the beach, but this one was distressed, maybe shocky. She stood hunched, ears drooping, head low, and perfectly still for a long time, wet from having been in the ocean, but no…
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Early on, in the ’90s, when I said I didn’t eat meat, people would offer me chicken, and I would have to point out, Isn’t chicken meat? What about duck? they would ask. Turkey? Rabbit? I started calling myself a “vegetarian” because trying to explain what I ate led to a lot of confusion. And a…
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. . . it woulda’ bit’cha.” When there was a break in the weather, we walked north, our usual direction. There was sand, but on our way out we were mostly in the rocks at the eastern edge, picking up trash. I found the hilt of a plastic knife and then the sheath. Gary found…
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We socialized a lot this holiday season. So far, a party, visitors, driving to Portland to see our sons and their families, and their extended families. The weekend after next, we will have a full house here for Twelfth Night. Gary wants Dundee cake, and we will have salmon and mushrooms and grains and salads.…
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