Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Short Story Collection
I am so excited. I finally–FINALLY–feel like I’ve gotten my short story collection assembled and completed into a cohesive manuscript. I’ve written one last story to anchor the collection (six before it, six after), taken out ones that I was sort of including and looking the other way over, and I really feel good about…
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Yellow jackets from hell
Yup, they’re still here. Will they never die? Admittedly, they aren’t as bad as they were. The ones that get in now are confused, twitchy, and not long for this world. But they still have enough oomph to make it to my bathroom, where they crawl around on the rug, or the covered toilet seat.…
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ITME
ITME’s fall students are just starting their 12 week semester program and the first update can be read here. We have a great group and are anticipating a great semester!
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Nearly good
I’m struggling with a novel that is nearly good. I have recently come to understand that it needs another draft, after I had told myself I was done. I can’t get to it yet because I’m finishing my short story collection, which is almost, almost there. And the writing I’m doing for the last story…
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Dolphin intelligence
There has been a great debate raging in the community of dolphin researchers and animal ethicists about the intelligence of dolphins. Most of us have long believed that dolphins are intelligent, but a recent researcher is positing that they are not as intelligent as we have given them credit for. Personally, I think he’s a…
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Mark Doty’s lecture
Hey, I found my notes! And it only took two weeks. Anyway, Mark Doty’s lecture was titled “Whitman in Tears” and was born of an essay he wrote for Virginia Quarterly Review on the anniversary of the publication of Leaves of Grass. The first thing Doty discussed was the poetic tone in of Leaves of…
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It’s officially over…
…Summer, that is. Sigh. My kiddos just left for school. My eldest is a Junior in high school, my middle is starting her first day of high school today, and my youngest, no longer a baby, is in fifth grade, top of the heap in elementary school. And to make things worse (better??) he is…
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Waiting for my copy
I got an email saying it had shipped…maybe it will come today. I’m waiting for Jim Tomlinson’s Things Kept, Things Left Behind, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Here is an excerpt from his “Backstory” essay, which can be read here. “There is a saying in playwriting that the scene is never about what…
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The Ex-terminator
So, we called around, holiday weekend and all. Orkin wanted $269, starting price. Another place wanted $150. Finally we found a local place that would do it for between $95 and $140. And they would come right away. Hallelujah. By 3:15 the cats were getting hungry and giving me disgusted looks at the closed door…
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The nest
I arrived home to a yellow jacket infestation. I’ve heard about the giant nests appearing this year, to the bafflement of entomologists, but never thought I’d be this close to one. At first, they were just appearing in our basement laundry room–occasional, groggy fellows that we sucked up with the vacuum or dropped in the…
Got any book recommendations?