Generation Meh

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Tag: pedantry

  • Nothing To See Here

    “What are you thinking?”   This was a game my travel partner and I played a hundred times last week. Late at night, over dinner, during long stretches of flat road, on the last few miles to our next destination. A close cousin to “Why are you looking at me like that?” The object is…

  • The Secret To Secrets

    I am good at hearing secrets. I am good at accepting them thoughtfully, like a present someone took a long time to choose. Holding them in my lap with both hands to make sure they don’t fall and break. It’s not very hard. I can teach you. In fact, it might be even easier than being…

  • Is It Quitting Time?

    “If I don’t become a spy, I’m probably just going to stop.” There are not many people who could utter a line like that and have it make perfect sense in the moment. My friend K is one of those people. What K was getting at was the idea that eventually you have to stop…

  • Why Cliches About Success Are Stupid

    Lately, more than one person has insinuated that I have something going on. As if maybe I’d become the universe’s teacher’s pet all of a sudden and was rolling around in good luck as if it was a kiddie pool full of chocolate pudding. Here’s the real (pudding-free) scoop. I made a decision. Okay, I…

  • Here Be Monsters

    “We’re different kinds of writers.” This followed shortly after,” I know you like writing and all that journalism stuff.” No, I like pad thai and Christopher Guest movies. I am a writer. And you are unable to distinguish between common homophones. Journalism is how I put myself through school. People actually pay me for my words.…

  • Saturday In Three Scenes

    I ended up seated across from a reporter.  He asks if he can write a profile on me. I try to be vague and gracious in my refusal, but I know I just sound rude.  The conversation ends there. He pockets his notebook and pointedly turns away. That’s the last I see of him. ***…

  • The Future In Things

    Eventually, after you are proven wrong many, many times, you stop speculating about the future. You stop trying to fix it in one place as if you’re zippering a wriggling toddler into a snowsuit. You make rough drafts of the best and worst case scenarios, maybe throw in an idle daydream or two and you…

  • Choosing Your Words

    What kind of music do you like? Where did you grow up? How was your weekend? There’s a difference between an answer and a response. I confuse them sometimes. People mostly want the shortest satisficing response. The uh huh. Yeah, sure. No, thanks. Of course. They don’t want fulsome. It’s small talk, not a deposition.…

  • Unsolicited: A Story In Zero Acts

    I am trying not to be meddlesome. Truly, I am. It is difficult and I’ve probably overstepped already. Me, my magic wand and the horse I rode in on. I am always digging in people’s heads. Compiling dossiers of facts and feelings that I rifle through and mentally update each time we talk. Climbing all…

  • Once Upon A Time

    I was a lousy freelancer. At least in spirit. I can really only write well when it comes from the gut, when I feel something for the words and what they represent. The rest always felt, at best, slightly whorish and, at worst, like donating blood that would never be transfused. No wonder I spent…