A Most Unusual House
How can a cabaret act have an unprintable name and still succeed?
Category Archive Browsing Category: Ancient Personal History
The Cubs Win, But We Lose
Think about 1908 for a second. This is the year the Model T debuted, the year the Wrights finally unveiled their flying machine to the public. Theodore Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor William Howard Taft was elected as president. The Dow closed at 60.7296, a solid recovery after one of the many panics. In 1908, there were…
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Sunday, January 16, 2005 Talked to Chris Morris on the phone about aliens, the end of the world, the meaning of both our lives, growing older, philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, my father, women in general and particular, the law, Oregon, the midwest, world culture, American history as it relates to the current situation, the spiritual…
2nd & Pike
Seattle I am sitting by the window at Pho Vîet on Pike when I see my ex wife walk past, arms swinging and happy like she used to be before the bad times. I don’t even have time to knock on the glass when my childhood best friend goes past in the other direction, riding my bike he…
Regular
Max always came in around three, a folded New York Times in his pocket. I’d have his drink ready before he sat down at the bar. Max dressed like a college professor, tweed jacket and sweater vest. He always sat on the same stool. Midway through his second drink he’d ask for the dictionary. We’d spend the afternoon working together through the crossword puzzle.…
Snapshot from 1893
This is a copy of a letter from my great aunt Sarah Herring Sorin to my great grandmother Henrietta Herring Franklin. I love everything about this. 8 West 45th St. N.Y. City Oct. 10 – 93 My darling Eat: I got Nick’s nice letter yesterday morning, and yours at noon. Hers was postmarked the 3rd and…
Überhaus Diary: Scams
September 27th, 1998 I pulled up in front of the building. This black guy in a beret and an open shirt leaned toward the car and asked if he could borrow a gas can. I had none and said so. He asked if he could ask me something. He fumbled with a cellular phone and began…
Überhaus Diary: Sushi Date
From May 1999. Dating in a nutshell. sushi date I watch Masa slice the fish draw his knife quick along the gleaming belly it seems to move itself as I float forever on your voice the soft curve of your lips cradling words full of recent events devoid of meaning God you are beautiful your eyes, way across the table…
Überhaus Diary: Tsuru no Sugomori
One night I walked from my apartment up to Portland’s tiny Japan Town and witnessed two old men sitting in a vast room playing go, a young man watching from the doorway. I went home and wrote this piece. It is typical of the sort of things I was writing at the time, fragments of…
Überhaus Diary: The Knife
November 23rd, 1997 The neighborhood was located in a little triangle formed by the intersection of two major highways. For once, the highway designers had gotten it right, placing the on and off-ramps in such a way that they were both invisible and practically inaudible to the homes of the neighborhood. My friends Holly and…