#80: Shaping the Pixels (Another Minecraft Poem)

There seems to be an inexhaustible amount of stuff that can be known about this game. Dad writes a poem to articulate his emerging understanding of his eight year old son’s favorite past time, and realizes in short order that he’s only scratched the surface, that he’s only scratched the surface of the surface, thatContinue reading “#80: Shaping the Pixels (Another Minecraft Poem)”

#79: A Minecraft Poem (Dad’s Understanding Emerges)

As I understand it, Minecraft is a computer game in which a first person player named Steve wanders through a seemingly endless outdoor landscape made entirely of blocks of things. The grass, the trees, the water, the hills, the clouds in the sky–all blocks (nothing in this world is curved, arched, or angular-slanty). In his wandering,Continue reading “#79: A Minecraft Poem (Dad’s Understanding Emerges)”

#72: Potter Author Trending

First of all, I’m embarrassed that I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, in the sidebar list of stories “trending” on the Mighty Social Network; secondly, I’m ashamed I clicked on this particular subject matter, an author I am only nominally interested in–an author for which only in the very most minimal way couldContinue reading “#72: Potter Author Trending”

#69: Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices)

Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices) If the boy were left to his own devices he would be playing a video game or streaming some show on the damn iPad all day long. The bad news is that sometimes he is left to his own devices and I agonize about my shitty parenting. Sometimes IContinue reading “#69: Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices)”

On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself

I began composing a blog entry this morning about New Year’s Resolutions.  The direction I was going felt compelling.  I was proud of the opening paragraph.  I was on to something and feeling clever and witty and all of that jazz. I was also feeling a bit of deja vu, like somehow, I remembered writing,Continue reading “On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself”

#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son

On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son Yeah, I know about bronies. I was introduced to this term by a student, an 11th grade boy who wrote an essay about being a brony, part confessional, part defense of the show’s merits, partial explanation of the idiosyncrasies of this particular kid. AtContinue reading “#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son”

#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook

So, the student stops by the house of his English teacher to pick up a younger member of his family who’s taking music lessons from the English teacher’s wife, and he comes into the study to say hello and the English teacher minimizes his Facebook page so that the student doesn’t know that this isContinue reading “#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook”

#63: Pilgrims at the Table

Pilgrims at the Table I understand that on the first Thanksgiving there was no meal between Pilgrims and Indians, there was no peaceful gathering around a turkey or anything in particular having to do with corn, but rather, John Winthrop’s declaration of a “day of thanksgiving” when he received the news that 700 Pequot IndiansContinue reading “#63: Pilgrims at the Table”

Some Things that Sucked about Music in the 80’s

It’s time to make some pronouncements.  I have no authority, and I hate it when people who have no authority make pronouncements, but because I am a musician and can kind of claim to know something about music, and because I lived through, was actually a teenager and a young adult in this particular era,Continue reading “Some Things that Sucked about Music in the 80’s”

#52: Stupid Human Facebook Tricks

(with apologies to all my friends guilty of the following) I think one has to earn the right to post pictures of one’s food. First, it must be good food, carefully prepared, photogenic food, artfully arranged, economically described. Otherwise, I don’t want to see anybody’s food. And I refuse to respond to posts that testContinue reading “#52: Stupid Human Facebook Tricks”