Mark Stratton's Blog: AGGASPLETCH, page 21
October 22, 2011
The Saddest Picture I've Ever Seen
In neat, precise handwriting on the back it reads, "Grave of Elmer Hummer, May 1914″
My Granddad's name was Elmer Hummer. He was born in November of 1914 and his first name was after his father. The Elmer who died earlier that year. Granddad never knew his father.
This is just one of the things I have found whilst digging through the family photos. The saddest picture I've ever seen.
October 21, 2011
Nicole Atkins (Free Music!)
I've been a fan of Nicole Atkins for a few years now. Since I stumbled across her music back in '06, I've been a fan. Bought all the CD's and EP's on iTunes sort of fan. Made the trip to St. Louis earlier this year to see her show sort of fan. Got an autographed poster I'm going to frame and hang on the wall sort of fan. Top Five artist on my Last.fm profile over the last five and half years sort of fan. Pardon me whilst I gush.
Her current release, "Mondo Amore" has grown on me over...
October 18, 2011
Guest Post–Adriene (A.D.) Joyce and Her Writing Space
Although I ultimately manage to pull it all together, my writing space seems to fall into three realms. Haphazardness is the common thread among them.
The first realm is home, where I do the writing that is most important to me—namely poetry, blog posts, and essays. For my prose pieces, I use my laptop. My laptop is like an appendage and is never more than a foot away from me, even if I'm not using it.
Sometimes I have it with me in the living room and I write while the television is on. I can ...
October 5, 2011
My Thanks to Jessie Carty
Today, an interview conducted via email by Jessie Carty appears on her blog. I am quite grateful to her for asking me, and I hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed participating.
October 2, 2011
Photographs & Memories: Thoughts on Changes
Buried among the souvenirs of not just my lifetime, but the lives of those who have gone before, are vacation snapshots of my great-grandfather taken when he was a lad. A mere lad in the 1890′s. That's some old slide show fodder, my friends. In fact, I have an entire trunk full of photos that were left me when my Grandmother passed away a few years ago. I'm looking forward to and kind of scared of going through them all.
In preparing for doing this, I've been organizing our photos. Which ...
September 16, 2011
Guest Post – Brendan O'Hallarn and His Writing Space
Three years ago, I was working as a reporter for WYDaily, the online newspaper for whom I write White Knuckles, a weekly column about my life as an overwhelmed dad of two.
On a crisp October morning, I was out walking the haunted streets of Colonial Williamsburg long before dawn. The Today Show was doing its series on battleground states during the 2008 election, and chose to do its show live from CW that day. The town was abuzz.
As a hustling, underdog paper, WYDaily sent me out to do a live b...
September 14, 2011
Dawes – A Little Bit of Everything
Find more Dawes albums at Myspace Music
There are times when I hear a song that says many things to me. Things that are tough to explain, put into words, convey to anyone else or even myself. But that song moves me. It sort of works the same way with poetry. Sometimes a poem just grabs you by the throat/balls/heart and you fall in love or melancholy or a plate of spaghetti. Songs and poems can do this to you.
"A Little Bit of Everything" by Dawes is a song that has done this to me...
September 12, 2011
Not Working
Last Tuesday I was sick. Stayed home from work, didn't make it to class. I was very disappointed, but also suffering from bronchitis which made the choice to stay home an easy one, even if not a happy one. I did email my teacher to let her know I was going to be absent, and also asking how I could obtain my classmates poems for workshop on Thursday. I did not ask about getting my poem to my classmates. It wasn't purposeful, just sort of happened that way.
Anyhow, she responded that she w...
September 2, 2011
Jade Bennington and Her Writing Space
Here is the place I come to write. I concentrate best when my desk is simple and clear with just the essentials– a laptop, headphones, a fan to keep cool, a water canteen, and a few memorable decorative things.
Preparing myself to write is just an important part of the process as the actual writing. To me, preparation means clearing my desk of the last activity, such as rinsing out my tea cup and tea pot or putting away the book I was reading (unless I need it for the project.) It also means ...
September 1, 2011
The Purple Pen of Doom
After two weeks, I can honestly say that I am having more fun in school than I have since Mrs. Rothstein's 9th Grade English class back at Tappan Junior High . Incidentally, she was the first person I ever met who'd written a book. I need to reacquire a copy of it , as mine disappeared years ago.
I have to say up front that I will probably not be as forthcoming with details as I had originally planned. It appears that my teacher is known by some of the people I follow and interact with on T...
