NEW YORK - Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday. He was 84 ( Read more... )

Some people are like two self-facing mirrors. They lend an illusion of depth to a shallow space. Your "kindred spirit" then reveals itself as your own reflection, repeated in endless iteration. Talk to yourself. Have a chat. Pretend, if you wish, your answering riot. The room is still empty. You're still alone and talking to yourself like a madman.

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I spoke to someone the other day about what it means to be a connoisseur. The conversation revolved around this notion that, if you know something well enough, you can appreciate and/or critique that thing on multiple levels. Anyone can appreciate a ballet, for example, but only a dancer can truly understand the form, discipline and sacrifice of a ( Read more... )

It seems like an eternity since I wrote this story. It was for a high school English class, and the assignment had two requirements: It had to involve the playing of a team sport and it needed to be written from the perspective of the opposite sex. Since I've never been a sports person (I used to race BMX - but that isn't a team sport,) I had to ( Read more... )

Other people's problems are so much more interesting. My own problems, they bore me to tears. Filling out forms, writing dry meaningless papers within narrow bounds, meeting deadlines, writing "daily reflection logs" wherein I reflect needlessly on matters of little consequence, waiting in lines, waiting to be called on, waiting to be misundertood ( Read more... )

Last night, I slept for the first time in three days. In the sleepless interim I spent a good deal of time stumbling about and making generally poor decisions. Insomnia affects the body like a depressant - like being drunk, only without the buzz. Be thankful that I routinely spare my friends the indignity of drunk dialing. Instead I write self- ( Read more... )

Until just this year, I thought this story was a myth. I guess that doesn't make me much of a humanist.

From Snopes:

"SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT ( Read more... )

My grades are in, my final papers returned to me. Though only my first quarter, I so far have a 4.0 GPA with the maximum number of points possible in every class for every assignment.

I should be happy I guess.