Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 58
June 13, 2014
Bring on the Drear
My eyes brightened when I saw the forecast: showers beginning Friday, continuing through Saturday and Sunday, with sunshine returning Monday morning. I love drippy weekends. Even though they cut into my convertible drive-time, even though they make my rosebuds ball up and rot, even though they make my friends unhappy because their plans for beach-days […]
June 10, 2014
Drop and Give Me Twenty
When I learn a thing, I like to know thewhy of it. It’s not enough to knowthat something is the way it is; I want to knowwhy it is the way it is. This did not serve me well my study of mathematics since, when I got down to basic axioms and postulates, the answer […]
June 5, 2014
Warning: Warnings
I’m going to kick the poo-pile here, so stand back. I’m not even going to start with a caveat or a disclaimer. “Trigger warnings” are ridiculous. If you’re not aware of what they are, a “trigger warning” is a label or blurb placed on a book or written work, intended to give fair warning that […]
June 2, 2014
Change Is…
Change is not “good.” We just say that to put on a brave face. The fact is that change is neither inherently good or bad. Change, like the universe, is neutral. Change justis. There have been a lot of changes around my house in the last 24 months. In that time, my wife and I […]
May 29, 2014
Reveal
hands reveal ash-streaked eyes smudged and sullen like an old cloth worn thin wiping up sooty tears
May 28, 2014
Considering the Plug
RAWWWR by NickiStock on deviantART My brother is an old-school kinda guy. He licks bones for a living. (Well, okay, he licks rocks to see if they’re bones; he’s an archaeologist.) His living room is shelvedfloor-to-ceiling with vinyl LPs. He hates Facebook and eschews all social media. He has a clam-shell flip phone that he’s […]
May 23, 2014
A Fragmented Mind
Yesterday, I started and then deleted no fewer than six posts. My mind was fragmented by circumstances and events, leaving me unable to concentrate on anything. I started posts on the usefulnessof writing conventions, on the reasons for using a pseudonym, on office “open” floorplans, on my reputation as an arrogant bastard, etc., etc.I tried […]
May 20, 2014
Touring Elizabethan England
What do a fork, a model of a ship, and a priest’s right eye have in common? No, they’re not props from a horror movie. They’re all objects discussed in Neil MacGregor’s book,Shakespeare’s Restless World:A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects. As readers of this blog know, I have a bit of a fascination […]
May 16, 2014
‘Neath
On the third day we found her, lying in the rippling sunlight beneath the sweetgum tree, her brindled fur quilted amongst the swordleaf fronds, her head pillowed by her one white paw. My father’s wish, whispered to the breeze, was that she might have climbed upon his lap one last time, but he did not […]
May 13, 2014
I’m Not an Actor, But I Play One on TV
Claire Bloom once told me that if I wasserious about Shakespeare and acting, Imustread the Shakespearean variorum. Through the variorum, she said, I could delve into the language and gain better understanding of its history and deeper meaning. I took this advice to heart, despite the fact that I’m not an actor. And the fact […]
