November 1 Deadline Met!

Bard Exam just uploaded. All November 1 Early Decision and Early Admission applications uploaded. All recommendations written and uploaded. I have been working today since 11 am and it is now 9 pm. Excuse me while I go to bed. Hooray. I’ll check back in tomorrow when I suspect I’ll be a good deal more…

The Push for November 1 Early College Submissions

I have moved about 100 steps today, from the kitchen and back to my chair in the den about 10 times, while I worked with kids all day on their November 1 submissions to colleges. No need to go into details, but with November only two days away, you might well imagine the tension that…

Rest in Peace, Beloved Sammie

Today our sweet Sammie, our Scottish terrier who has been ailing for a while, died peacefully on our back patio. Ray, Cordelia (our Corgi) and I were there with her as she slipped away. Cordelia licked Sammie’s eyes and her mouth, and then started barking. She looked at us as if to say, “Do something!” We…

Stories of the Heart Conference in Austin in April!

Dear Len, I’m delighted to let you know that the Program Committee for next year’s conference has selected both your proposals, The Fun and Liberating World of Flash Fiction/Memoir and Transforming Your Writing Life in Just 20 Minutes a Day, for presentation. I speak for the Conference co-chairs, Peggy Moody and Jeanne Guy, as well…

Revisited Post: Edward Weston’s Photo and My Grandfather

The car looked like a Model T, or what was left of it. It was more rightly, the carcass of a Model T with no wheels or tires, no engine, no seats. Only the body of the old car, rusted, bent, and disheveled, like an old woman with too many miles and too much booze….

A Heavy Work Week Ahead

I am helping a student with the Bard exam. This includes four 10 page essays on art, literature, science and philosophy. If the student makes a B+ or higher, then they receive an automatic acceptance to Bard College in New York. My student and I are reading Tolstoy, Galileo, Kant, and more. We are both…

Happy Birthday Eve, Brother Sam!

Tomorrow is my brother Sam’s birthday and I’ll just like to give him a shout out from CA to Texas or Ohio or Tennessee, wherever he may be tonight. My little brother is five years my junior and he has a musical streak that surpasses that of most mortal beings. He started pounding on a…

Sad News from the Breakfast Club

Some of you may recall that I wrote a few months back about an eighty-five year old woman – one of our Breakfast Club patrons – who I discovered was living in a West Hollywood park. Her name was Pat and she had come for years to the Breakfast Club, though for most of that…