person_pin Essay Archives

A Veteran’s Story

Issue No. 11 ~ April, 1998

By the time I was old enough to understand my father’s war stories, he had long since stopped talking about the war. My brother, who is five years older than I am, had heard his terrifying tales of blood curdling banzai charges in the jungle …

A Job That Pays

Issue No. 9 ~ October, 1997

The night the highway patrol officer picked Andy and me up on I-90 about halfway between Chicago and Madison, I was a 21-year old graduate student who had never worked for a living. I’d had part time jobs-serving food, washing test tubes, typing index entries …

My Testicles Are De Happy Color Of De Cocoa Bean

Issue No. 9 ~ October, 1997

There is nothing strange about fear: no matter in what guise it presents itself it is something with which we are all so familiar that when a man appears who is without it we are at once enslaved by him. —Henry Miller It’s amazing what …

When Brains Go Bad

Issue No. 8 ~ July, 1997

 I’ve come to the realization that everything I learned in college is completely useless. A lot of this might have to do with the fact that I was a Liberal Arts major (meaning: I know a lot about very little and can talk liberally about …

NIMBY Police on the Prowl

Issue No. 8 ~ July, 1997

Those of you who do not live in Nevada may not be aware of Yucca Mountain. In fact, those of you who do not live in Nevada may not be aware that the state even extends beyond the borders of Las Vegas. If you are …

Cry Freedom, Sing Like a Canary

Issue No. 7 ~ April, 1997

Can South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission ever hope to heal the wounds of apartheid? The roles of politics and justice are such that they will forever remain tangled and inseparable. But while this marriage may be inevitable, it is certainly not palatable. There comes …

Writer’s Cafés of Paris

Issue No. 7 ~ April, 1997

In the 1920’s and 30’s, Hemingway, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and a host of other aspirants went to Paris to live the good life, write and find fame. This tatty group of pseuds, braggarts and bar-flies managed to turn out, in between heavy bouts of …

Why I Never Learned How to Play Chess

Issue No. 6 ~ January, 1997

Good story. True story. A world-class chess champion is in the middle of a tournament. He is playing forty (40) games at once. He goes from table to table making one move at each. After some time he approaches a table, observes the move his …

Tumor

Issue No. 6 ~ January, 1997

I have not spoken with you in a while and I feel guilty. I joke with you on the phone. I am trying to make light of your brain tumor. Tomorrow, a neurosurgeon will remove the growth that has made you dizzy and unwell. I …