Perhaps it’s because they are hollow that our imaginations can occupy them so easily. That is to say, it is their anti-heroism, their apparent lack of Great Qualities, that make them our size, or even smaller, so that we can stand among them as equals, like Dorothy among the Munchkins.

– Salman Rushdie, Step Across the Line
Referring to the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion of the Oz movie

Fiat Pop 500c

I drive a 2012 Fiat Pop, bought used on January 11, 2014 with barely 1600 miles. The Pop has mixed reviews, but I love it so far. Magazine and buyer reviews enjoy the go-kart like feeling; it’s an engaging car that requires a relationship with the driver. For me, that fits; I like the involvement. Buyer reviews complain about two things: cheap interiors and constant mechanical breakdowns. Cheap interiors are the fate of low-end cars. The Pop’s cute and clever design far make up for the crappy quality inside. Now, I have driven low-end cars all my life, starting with a Bondo-bodied VW Bug proppedRead More →

Sometimes you arrive at something small, like a pebble, or a discovery of a bit of your soul that you lost along the way, and you take stock of where you are on your path. That happened to me this week. I found a handful of pebbles, in fact. I am a perpetual stock-taker, an accountant of pebbles, a self-cartographer. Sometimes I take too much stock studying the pebbles, and I neglect the road. My hands and pockets get weighted down with an accumulation of gravel, much of which no longer has any name, and none of which is worn smooth. I should make theseRead More →

Jack Bilander and I have a parasocial relationship. I stalk him on the internet like a cast-off lover seeking any possible shred of information about who he’s romancing. I suffer from bouts of borderline personality disorder, speculating about his thoughts and yearnings. Time and again, I look at a particular photo of him, and think back on the brief period that I knew him personally. He was incomprehensible then, like the many other adult treasures in that period of my life. Jack was a flirt. People who’ve sold me his etchings and who knew him from the neighborhood describe his charm. I witnessed this truthRead More →

homemade lip gloss

A couple of Christmases ago I decided to skip shopping, save money on presents, and make things instead. Plus, rejecting commercialized Christmas is always good. Homemade presents are more meaningful and contribute less to landfills and capitalists’ pockets. Ironically, I ended up spending lots of money; buying presents would have been cheaper. The supplies came from hobby shops with right-wing agendas and whole food grocery stores with dubious health insurance politics. I purchased obscure things like bees wax, shae butter, lavender essential oil, and rose petals. Still, I had fun sharing tea and hot chocolate with several women friends while we expressed our creativity onRead More →