Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 685

Separate and unequal

I've been thinking about how different my school days were in comparison to my current students.

How's this for one:

Growing up, the concept of recess was completely different than it is today. For example, my friends and I enjoyed recess up until 7th grade, as opposed to my students, who don't see a minute of recess past elementary school.

But even more shocking, boys and girls during my school days were never on the same playground. Except for perhaps kindergarten, there were separate...

Back luck?

You know, if there is a God, he must have been in a rotten mood when he decided to place the origin of all three major monotheistic religions in an area the size of Rhode Island.

And then, just for kicks, plop the majority of the oil reserves on the planet in the same region as well. 

It would be funny if so many people hadn't died as a result of the subsequent quarreling. 

Where do you get your ideas?

I am often asked where I get the inspiration and ideas for my stories, especially considering that I am fortunate enough to have so many ideas from which to choose. 

This is the kind of question that is impossible to answer with a single sentence, because I never know when I might stumble upon an idea that could make a great book.  I tend to be the kind of person who asks a lot of "what if" and "imagine if" questions, and through these quandaries, many my ideas are born. 

But since that...

Musical quandary

I must have listened to the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia a hundred times. If you're not familiar with the tune, it essentially tells the story of a boy named Johnny who is challenged by the devil to a battle of fiddle-playing. If Johnny wins, he gets the devil's golden fiddle, and if he loses, the devil gets Johnny's soul.  Satan's and Johnny's performances are played as instrumental bridges during the song.

No matter how many times I hear this song, I am unable to determine why...

Breasts and legs but no sex

Did you know that we've genetically engineered industrial turkeys to be so large that they can no longer have sex?  Farmers use the equivalent of a turkey baster in order to impregnate female turkeys.

Turkey baster to impregnate female turkeys? 

You can't make this stuff up.

Which story should I write next?

In the span of the last two days, I complete revisions on my manuscript (CHICKEN SHACK), sent it off to my agent and began a new book. 

Actually, I've started writing two new novels since finishing the initial draft of CHICKEN SHACK.  I'm thinking of one of them (BUDO) as my primary book (at least 2,000 words a day with a goal of being finished by September) and the other (BETTY BOOP) as something that I will tinker with when I need a break from the first.

I'm fortunate, so my agent says...

The same color?

Though I'm not a fan, I was always under the impression that the hip hop duo Salt-n-Pepa was comprised of an African American and a Caucasian, hence the name.

It recently has come to my attention that this is not the case. Cheryl James(now known as Cheryl Wray) and Sandra Denton are both black.

I don't get it.

Paul McCartney was smart enough to get Stevie Wonder to perform the song Ebony and Ivory with him.  Why waste such a fitting multi-racial name on a hip hop duo band that isn't made...

Getting in trouble

One of Elysha's friends called and said that she "got in trouble" for changing her child's swim diaper on the chairs surrounding the pool.

My initial reaction:

Was she kicked out of the swim club?

Suspended from using the pool for a certain length of time?

Fined?

No, it turns out that the lifeguard explained their rule and asked her not to do it again.

I've come to realize that "getting in trouble" means different things to different people depending upon their life experience, and...

Have you ever seen a creepier coffee table?

Religious bias and Old Testament catsup

A few comments about my Fourth of July burgers and hotdogs at my in-laws:

First, my mother-in-law and my wife both assert that Hebrew National is the finest of all the hotdog brands.  I disagree, but more importantly, I discount their objectivity when it comes to  Hebrew National because they are both Jewish.

Am I wrong?

Even my mother-in-law admitted that her proclivity toward Hebrew National might have more to do with the fact that she ate this brand of hotdog as a child than the actual...