A number of years ago, I wrote a short story called The Life of Birds.** In the story, a young somewhat adrift fellow named Ben oversees a small nature sanctuary. While leading a group of bird watchers through the forest, he points out a brightly colored orange and black oriole in the

Something for election seasons…or whenever – a favorite bit from The Moviegoer: “Whenever I feel bad, I go to the library and read controversial periodicals. Though I do not know whether I am a liberal or a conservative, I am nevertheless enlivened by the hatred which one bears

Last week, I wrote about seeing with instruments. That got me wondering again about what science shares with religion. Well,…”Jackson Pollock on the Mount” – the graying paint-spattered priest in As It Is On Earth – wonders as well. Sermonizing on the rationale

Two of my favorite writers on their garden benches, a tree over each of their left shoulder, and their heads tilted slightly rightward…as if they share one of As It Is On Earth‘s character’s poignant tendency “to see the slant of things better that way.” In AIIOE, I

“Back and forth I paced, probing the floor with seamless and well-constructed arguments. Then, rearing back, I would thrust irrefutable conclusions into the ceiling. Chalk crumbled in my hand and flew through space as I struck broad decisive strokes across the lecture hall slate

Firstly, a shout out: to Mark Mathew Braunstein whose photograph of Mamacoke Island graces the cover of As It Is On Earth, and to Andy Carpenter who found the photo, and then designed it into AIIOE’s lovely book jacket. Mamacoke Island plays a big role in the story. Its more than a pl

In his essay, The Origin of the Work of Art, the philosopher Martin Heidegger made an important distinction between the Earth and the World. Roughly, the “Earth” is the biotic entity that precedes humanity, and the “World” is what humans make of the earth when

If it is true that we as individuals are actually the sum of what has gone before us, i.e.,  the historical context within which we find ourselves (living at a particular time, in a particular place, from within a particular family) – or as my narrator Taylor Thatcher suggests:  “It w

The image here is a favorite – the Iranian government’s use of Adobe Photoshop to boost their arsenal. As It Is On Earth has launched as well, as of 9/8/2012 – a week early to accommodate all the pre-orders.. In this case, many copies are just fine. Return to Ruminations… &

I’m not sure what to make of being called a ‘renaissance man’ in the September issue of The Brooklyn Rail. Surely it is flattering, and I greatly appreciated Scott Cheshire’s (author of the debut novel High as the Horses’ Bridles, forthcoming from Henry H