The child comes home and the parent puts the hooks in him. The old man, or the woman, as the case may be, hasn’t got anything to say to the child. All he wants is to have that child sit in a chair for a couple of hours and then go off to bed under the same roof. It’s not love. I am not saying that there is not such a thing as love. I am merely ( Read more... )

and you are so weary
with loitering between here
and there then and then
beauty and function you wish
you were a three hole punch
sleek shiny black and a 
mysteriously pleasant weight
assisting children with their
school presentations while
slowly stockpiling confetti
for no particular reason

just some average day
suddenly it is needed
----------------

JOHN K. ( Read more... )

It's been over a week since the tragedy that claimed Hickstead. I started thinking about it again this evening, for whatever reason, and have been immensely emotional for the last few hours.

It's almost impossible to explain the bond between horse and rider to non-equestrians, but a fair amount of articles have attempted to communicate the special ( Read more... )

Except for finishing grading my students' last exams, I'm done with my first year of grad school ( Read more... )

 Two songs on repeat in my head as I write what might be the world's worst draft:

1. Neil Young, "Love is a Rose." Used by a friend as a very wise analogy during dinner conversation this evening, and stuck between my ears ever since.

Click to view

2. Modest Mouse, "The World At Large." Just popped up on Pandora. Always and forever the sound of Hartland, MI, Summer ( Read more... )

ESPN.com leaderboard fail:


( Read more... )

 Three days after the barn fire, an even bigger blow:

Shwy, my first horse, passed away unexpectedly today. He apparently had benign tumor that was growing near his small intestines. It never bothered him until today, when it caused internal bleeding. The guy who takes care of our horses a few times a week found him in pain early this morning and he ( Read more... )

I was going to post a SXSW recap entry but I just learned that a dressage barn back home burned down today. Four horses were killed.

I used to keep my horses there back in high school. We had considered keeping our guys there this winter.

I'm pretty sure I knew one of the horses who died. Think I rode him once while home on winter break my freshman ( Read more... )

I got a question for you.
What does this city know about luxury, huh?
What does a town that's been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?
Well, I'll tell you: more than most. You see, it's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.
Add hard work and conviction, and the know-how that runs generations deep in every last one of us.
( Read more... )

My first seminar paper is finished and turned in as of this afternoon. Here is what I have left to do between now and the end of the semester (Tuesday):

-- Finish revising my second paper and turn it in tomorrow morning.
-- Finish writing and revising my third paper between tomorrow afternoon and Sunday night (I'm at 12/18-20 CRAPTACULAR pages).
-- ( Read more... )