Stories

Chihuahuas and Children, a Story in Three Parts

In Life, Stories on 21 July 2008 with 8 comments

Photo by Heather
1.
Heather’s traveling for work, which means that I’m on Early Morning Walk duty. The dogs are used to walking with Heather at ungodly early hours, so my main goal in the morning is to stay as quiet as possible, lest they realize I’m awake. One early morning sigh and I’ll have two Chihuahuas [...]

On Permanence and Scars of Choice

In Life, Stories, Tattoos on 25 June 2008 with 18 comments

The thing that gives me pause about getting a tattoo is all the awful things I would have gotten tattoos of earlier in life.
Think of photos of yourself in the 80s. Imagine if, somehow, that powder blue Don Johnson suit you loved, the one you wore with a white t-shirt and the sleeves rolled [...]

90-Second Stories

In 90-Second Stories, Fray, Stories, Video on 16 April 2008 with 1 comment

A short personal story by yours truly. This is the first entry in Fray’s new 90-Second Stories group. What’s your 90-Second Story?

How Pixish Happened

In Business, Life, Pixish, Stories on 10 February 2008 with 11 comments

With some stories, it’s hard to know where to begin. I could start with my obsession with photography and magazines that goes back to when I was a kid. Or I could talk about running a newspaper in college and working at HotWired in the ’90s. Or when I started a photography magazine and a [...]

New in Fray: Busted in Jena

In Fray, Magazines, News, Politics, Stories on 7 January 2008 with Comments Off

When a group of black students in Jena, Louisiana, defied tradition and sat under a “whites only” tree, no one could have predicted that it would become a national story, that Reverend Al Sharpton would lead a march through town, or that Michael David Murphy would quit his job and travel to Jena to meet, [...]

NaBloPoMo Q&A 8: Never Tell a Story Like It’s Not About You

In Interviews, Life, NaBloPoMo, Q&A, Stories, Writing on 25 November 2007 with 3 comments

Louise asked:
I was wondering if you have ever regretted your transparency on the web. Has it worked as a negative or positive influence?
I was 23 years old the first time it happened. It was two hours into 1996. And I was bummed out. So I wrote down how I felt, posted it to my website, [...]

All of This Has a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, Part 4

In AOTHAPRE, Life, Stories, Travel on 14 November 2007 with 11 comments

Continued from yesterday.
Heather looked at me with a mix of exasperation and unblinking disbelief. But she is my spouse, my love, my dear partner, and she knows that sometimes, when you can’t get around a bad idea, the only option is to power right through it.
We switched seats and suddenly I was white knuckling our [...]

All of This Has a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, Part 3

In AOTHAPRE, Life, Stories, Travel on 13 November 2007 with 1 comment

Continued from yesterday.
I’m almost to the explanation now.
Next thing I know, it’s 6am and Heather is poking me to get moving. We’ve gotta leave the house in an hour. Then suddenly it’s 6:30 and we’ve got a half hour. I stumble into the shower and try to wake up.
I cram the last few things [...]

All of This Has a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, Part 2

In AOTHAPRE, Life, Stories, Travel on 12 November 2007 with 2 comments

Continued from yesterday.
I’m explaining. Just hang with me.
The second thing you should know is that I’m kind of a nervous flier. It’s crazy, given how much travel I’ve been doing lately, but I can’t help it. The night before a big trip, I can almost never sleep.
I wasn’t always like this. When I was [...]

All of This Has a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, Part 1

In AOTHAPRE, Life, San Francisco, Stories, Travel on 11 November 2007 with 3 comments

I can explain. Please, let me explain.
First, you should know about the crazy detector. Riding public transportation in San Francisco teaches you things. It’s taught me not to fear my fellow man, no matter how much they smell like wet dog. It’s taught me that happy surprises can happen, like when the sign says the [...]