Time to reevaluate the prominence trauma has in our stories

There’s an excellent article on the prevalence of the trauma plot in contemporary literature in the January 3-10 issue of The New Yorker, which grabbed my attention for two reasons: first, as a writer wanting to understand more about the craft (and which types of stories are currently popular and why) but secondly, as someone …

A glimmer of hope in the lights of Piraeus

The pandemic cannot last forever. The Spanish flu ended, and so will this. But it’s also true that we’re entering the darkest days of the pandemic, and after two years of it already, it feels sometimes that ‘We’ll be lost forever.’

Who wants normal? Not me

I’m starting to grieve the idea of going back to normal. Not that I think ‘normal’—meaning the way things were—is achievable, ever again. We won’t come out of this and return to what we had, ever. But some things will return, for sure. Some I’m happy about. Others I’m not looking forward to at all. …

Emojis in the age of the rona lockdown

😀 Grinning FaceThe look you’re able to pull on the first day of lockdown when the daughters who previously said they would never live at home again decide to move back for the four weeks.😃 Grinning Face with Big EyesThe look you pull when those same daughters say, “Are you sure it’s okay? You don’t …

COVID-19: Should we be fearful of the coming dystopia?

My daughter (the second of four) asked me today whether I was afraid—of the coronavirus and the devastating implications of the current pandemic. My answer was no. I don't feel afraid—but it was only later that I was able to think about why not. Here are some of my reasons. I remember the GFC in …

‘I will be known’: A treasured conversation

Our last coffee was had beneath the gaze of Mary, mother of Jesus, on December 17, 2018, some months before she left. I didn’t know it would be our last one-on-one conversation. Neither did she. That’s the point—we rarely know. It’s only afterwards, in retrospect, that these final conversations find their light. Fortuitously, the conversation …

Beyond Love: The dying man

They were together in silence like an old married couple wary of life, beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of illusion: beyond love. For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer …

Tears for my sister of mercy

I'm not a teary man, not really. But I've wept more in the past few weeks than I have in my whole life. And it's all because of Darlene. My friend. Who's dying. I think it's that I've been caught out. I've faced tragedy before. Lots of it, actually. I've experienced the death of people …

One Tree Hill: A conversation with Scruff

The cuttings of Scruff's extraordinary life are stuffed into a fat, brown leather wallet, along with his personal documents, references, some photos and books. Anything that's been written about Scruff, by anyone, at any time over the past few decades, is in this file. His personal library. It's so full the zip barely closes. It …