I experience and seek this contrast of autonomy with connection in my relationships. At the heart of my decision to have a place to live apart from my father’s is this need to have a space and life of my own with its own momentum and direction. When I’m at my father’s, I’m in Daddy’s […]

“Poetry is words on a page nibbling at the edge of something vast.”
–Nebraska’s less-well-known poet laureate, William Kloefkorn
(Suggested by Susan J. Tweit)
Biography
William Kloefkorn was named Nebraska Poet Laureate in 1982 and held that distinction for more than a decade. Often called “the Garrison Keillor of contemporary American poetry,” Kloefkorn’s poetry collections include Alvin Turner As […]

What I seek in my life is “autonomy with connection.” What does that mean? To be fully myself, but in the context of community. To have a balance of time by myself, and time to connect with others. To me, this is the quest of the artist. To create anything, there is always a period […]

Curt brought his “Tatler,” our high school year book to the reunion. In high school we knew each other only tangentially, so making a new friendship out of an old shoe is particularly fun for me. At the Saturday networking event there was a paperwork snafu, and they challenged his credentials as a member of […]

In between the tour of the new Alton High School in the morning and the evening reunion event, Curt Madison and his mother Grace Madison came across the river from Portage des Sioux, Missouri, where Curt inspected a roof for his brother Paul.
Curt, his wife, and Grace had come to visit us at my […]

As part of our 40th reunion we toured new new Alton High School, open just a year now and built at a cost of several millions. Among it’s charms, it boasts a three-court gymnasium. There’s also a beautiful auditorium and stage…a pit for the pit orchestra (I ducked down there for old times sake)…and a […]

The purpose of reunions, most deeply, ought to be to re-unite us not only with those we once knew back in the day, but with ourselves. I experienced this healing balm at the mixer at the Alton Sports Tap, night one of our class of 1967 40th high school reunion.
I heard someone call out a […]

I had a better time at my 40th high school reunion than I’d any right to have, considering how it was not exactly the peack experience of my life the first time around.
“Well,” responded a friend and classmate, “I’d be worried if it was the peak experience of my life.”
Because I graduated early, I […]

If I am not a Glimmer,
So I have to be a Shimmer.
And if I am not a Shimmer,
I must be a Himmer.
And if I am not a Himmer,
I must be a Jimmer.
And if I am not a Jimmer,
I must be a Chimmer.
And if I am not a Chimmer,
What am I?

Getting Real
Not so’s you notice it. or: Not so’s you know about it.
That oughtta tell you someth’n.
Shortcomings
He doesn’t have enough energy to blow his nose.
A day late and a dollar short.
Not enough sense to pour p**s out of a boot.
Good/Bad
Out of this world!
Communication
•Sounds like somebody with a bellyache. They just can’t get it out […]