i was born in fort worth, texas in 1984. i lived there for the first 18 years of my life. when it came time for me to go to college, i had only two criteria for the school i would go to--that it had to be small, and located anywhere but texas. college was an excellent time in my life, which is fortunate given that i chose knox, in galesburg, ( Read more... )

lately the trail crew has been building water features (drains, steps, etc.) on the lower pinnacles trail, which is about a 20 or 30 minute walk from the remuda. on the way, i pass by the 'chisos lodge,' a privately operated motel in the basin. as i hike by each morning, the visitors are beginning to stir. every morning there's one or two ( Read more... )

i am a dork. i can also be a dick. literally speaking, these two words mean exactly the same thing. in this context, however, their meanings are completely different.

i hate it when people ruin things ( Read more... )

when i was quite young my life was arranged into discreet imaginary worlds with little or no overlap. eating and sleeping, if i thought about them at all, were mostly ends to support--or maybe just distractions from--my creation of these worlds. eventually i would tire of one or two of these universes, and another would rise as if out of nowhere ( Read more... )

carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

that's okay, i wasn't using my civil liberties anyway.--common bush-era lefty bumper-sticker ( Read more... )

oh, and last week the trail crew worked every day down near the rio grande village campground, removing broken sections of boardwalk which had floated off their pylons in the fall flood. they were washed up on the far shore of a spring-fed, cane-lined pond opposite the former trailhead. getting them to the near shore and out of the water involved ( Read more... )

i feel as though i should issue a sort of correction for the entry i wrote about water and light. in it, i acted as though i really couldnt relate to the bodies of water around big bend, you know, on a personal level. that is not entirely true, and my portrayal of the case as such may have been due to a desire to sound like something of a ( Read more... )

when i was in high school a bunch--or at least a few--of us would go across the street to chopstix express to have lunch. the group would change from day to day, but it seems al and i were there most of the time. im not sure but i think i heard the last time i was in fort worth that the place had closed down. chopstix express was a little mom ( Read more... )