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Tedium – An Apocalyptic Roadside Attraction

Tedium – An Apocalyptic Roadside Attraction

It was macabre. A gothic children’s exhibit. A series of blackened and burnt structures had been cobbled together to form a methamphetamine miniature golf course in the center of nowhere. Jarette was on the border of Utah and Nevada just outside the small town of...

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My Barefoot Piano Punk Video Life

My Barefoot Piano Punk Video Life

The studio was filled with smoke. My eyes were red and puffy and each breath I took was filled with leftover joint fumes. I stared through the haze over the microphone into the engineering booth waiting for talk back. “That was dope.” “Really? You thought so?” I...

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Learning Loneliness in Track Town

Learning Loneliness in Track Town

I stood in his bathroom with a bucket, a sponge, and a can of Ajax bleach. He was in the doorway. A strange and angular-looking middle-aged man staring at me through wire-rimmed glasses with a lascivious grin. My skinny body was nervous, but I was broke and I needed...

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Creative Courage and Vulnerability

Creative Courage and Vulnerability

How to take risks and be authentic with your writing and creativity Many creative people find it difficult to write and create honest work from their own experiences because they’re afraid to be vulnerable and show their inner thoughts and sensitive history. I believe...

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Tedium – Delilah’s Confession

Tedium – Delilah’s Confession

Music rose from the jukebox. First a whispered woman’s voice singing, then gentle guitar spilled over a seductive dance of bass, percussion, and piano. Jarette immediately recognized the song and the singer. Once I Loved by Astrud Gilberto. “You like this, Cowboy?”...

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Fourth Grade Broke My Face

Fourth Grade Broke My Face

It was late September and I could feel winter coming. The leaves had changed color and the grass was nearly brown. Winter was always around the corner in Granite City. Snow often fell in October and stayed until May. At Westforest Elementary, teachers made us go...

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My Wicked Kindergarten Teacher

My Wicked Kindergarten Teacher

We sat cross-legged on the colorful carpet in three rows. 30 small bodies looking straight ahead with young, innocent faces at Mrs. Kablutsen. She stood in front of an empty blackboard and seemed too old to be a kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Kablutsen looked like the...

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I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse

I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse

An occasionally, mostly true tale.  When my parents named me after a hitchhiker they picked up in a blizzard somewhere between Wyoming and Nebraska, I don’t believe they had the intention that I become a hitchhiker myself. But that’s what happened. I became someone...

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Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Before I was taken to my jail cell, the guards made me undress and put on ‘blues’. My new wardrobe. Criminal pajamas. Then one of them taunted me by loudly spitting out from over his desk, “Hope you don’t have claustrophobia!” I did have a fear of enclosed spaces and...

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