Creative

  • Life in Hell

    NOTE: this manuscript was found at the site of a mass murder in an empty old Catholic church in Cincinnati. The three sheets of paper were charred on the edges as if they had been pulled out of a fire. The police are still investigating the incident and there are as of yet no suspects…

  • Monsters and Chaos

    Monsters perpetually threaten to drag the world into chaos and lawlessness. But it turns out that those who most fear the monster are the ones most likely to become the monster. For the greatest threat to humanity is not so much chaos and lawlessness but systems of ordered oppression which arise from the fear of…

  • Orbits

    Yesterday I drove into town on highway 20, crossing the tiny slice of our globe that extends from Sedro Wooley to Burlington, using the stored energy of that other prominent globe in our vicinity to power the engine of my jeep. This same celestial globe that millions of years ago provided the energy for my…

  • The Fall

    I fell from such dizzying heights Like icarus in a widening gyre Tumbling down in an elegant arc And spiraling away from all that is safe and certain. It’s not my fault I didn’t jump Only, the footing of my perch Crumbled under my feet And though I did not reach out to steady myself…

  • Doug and the Millers

    The Millers lived a few miles outside of town, at the foot of a local mountain. I say mountain. Some people would call it a large hill. Depends on your frame of reference. Lisa Miller was a secretary at the local high school, so I was distantly acquainted with her because of my kids, and…

  • One Million Waves

    Earth’s oceans are about 3.8 billion years old. Ocean waves are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the wind blowing on the surface of the water, plus occasional seismic activity. All of these features were already present when the oceans formed, so we can safely say that waves have been crashing up…

  • Gods and Historians

    Do you want to be a god? Do you want to think like a god? Do you want to see the world as gods do? Then study history. Historians are gods. They watch the march of centuries from their unassailable perch, untouched by human drama. They don’t hunger in famine, or thirst in drought. They…

  • The Face on the Wall

    It was late at night, and I was having trouble sleeping. So I was just laying there, staring at the ceiling. Sometimes I would turn over and stare at the wall. I was in a relaxed state, and didn’t really mind terribly not being able to sleep. Sometimes I get into that mood. Just relaxed,…