For the short story class I am in, part of our work obligation is the expectation that each student will write a short story during the month’s class time. We meet together for four weeks and read an acclaimed story each week and talk about it, and we talk about what goes into creating...

When I was younger, I wanted to be a preacher. I think I loved people pretty well back then, for the most part. I didn’t expect a lot from others. I didn’t demand a lot from them. I had a decent policy of “care, don’t compare.” You can’t love well if you spend your...

After about two months of listening to the audio book while I drove to and from work and out about twon and on a few day trips, I finally finished one of the more hefty- and meaty- books I’ve read in a long time. “Dune” by Frank Herbert is considered by some to be...

When a mostly young Father Sophos assumed his post as the shepherd of the East Main Catholic Mission, he was surprised to discover that his new position came with a building, but no congregation. For some reason it was still in the books as a Catholic parish, but aside from his paid secretary and...

Today I went to work and I stared at my screen and worked pretty hard all day. I don’t work physically hard but sometimes the hard work is thinking through the logic on how to ship data around, like defining paths of trucks carrying loads across a town. You want adequate throughput and you...

I have a feeling that it is all stacking up, and sometime soon, something is going to nudge or knock the pile, and the avalanche will begin. The sweater will begin to unravel. Everything will collapse in chain reaction fashion, and I will be left with nothing in the end. That’s the feeling. Not...