If there is a bear: Dr. Gordon Mixdorf, In Memoriam
I thought Dr. Mixdorf was rather grouchy when I first met him. Grouchy and a hardass. I had him for American Studies II my freshman year of high school and…
An Introduction to Marvin Bell
Occasionally I am called upon to write–and sometimes deliver–introductions to authors. I’m rather fond of some of them, and so I’ve decided to start publishing them here. Marvin Bell at…
Welcome, Mutha Readers!
If you’re here, perhaps it’s because you read my essay The Family Bed on the wonderful Mutha Magazine. I write and blog, shall we say, infrequently, but if you’d like…
Picture Window
This is an old, old essay from my MFA thesis, posted in honor of the Shelter House Used Book Sale, happening again today from noon to 4 pm at 1925…
Love and Fate
Five years ago I moved back to the Midwest from Wyoming. My plan was to stay for five years, or until my grandmother died, and then move on to something…
On Resolution
In the late summer or very early fall of 1987, my mother and grandmother took me to hear Joe Biden speak at a picnic shelter in Upper City Park in…
The movement empowers the community: Steven Kanner, In Memomoriam
The fall of 2001 was not a particularly good time for anyone, but it was a particular kind of very bad time for those of us who are pacifists. I…
Where All the Pages Are My Days
I have spent what I can only consider to be an undue amount of time considering the Grateful Dead song “Sugar Magnolia.†[lyrics, YouTube] It is—in case by chance you…
Welcome, Rumpus Readers!
If you’re here, perhaps it’s because you read my essay Accidents on The Rumpus. If so, thanks a million! (If not, you can of course read it now.) And if…
On Mother’s Day
I thought I might have more to say on this subject than I did fifteen years ago, in another lifetime, but for the most part I don’t, except to acknowledge…