Monthly Archives: March 2012

A Soft Defeat

Even though “Beginnings” are short, writing seven of them in a row is pretty damn hard. So, in light of that, my plan to schedule posts for the whole next week has gone out the window. I admit a slight … Continue reading

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Beginnings #15: Empty Roads

The road was long and straight.  And empty.  Northern Nevada is pretty desolate at 5:00 in the morning.  I hadn’t seen any other headlights for what seemed like hours.  Dawn was starting to show itself over the hills and the … Continue reading

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Beginnings #14: Garfield

Peter was always annoyed that his last name was Garfield, since he’d been reading the Sunday comics since he could, and before then he’d always looked at the pictures. He read the cartoons last though; first it was the business, … Continue reading

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Beginnings #13: The Cane

On the cracked, crumbling, cement sidewalk young Billy Conrad walked each day to the store on the corner and bought one dollar’s worth of bulk dark chocolate. As the years passed, the amount lessened with raising prices, but on the … Continue reading

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In the Woods

Starting next Friday (the 16th), I’ll be spending alternate weeks deep in the woods, caretaking at an AMC hut. I’ll try to write and schedule enough posts beforehand so my steady posting is uninterrupted. If some are missing, don’t lose faith. And … Continue reading

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Beginnings #12: The Road to the Lab

Three decades, two months, and one week later, careening off the washboarded dirt road near White Rock, New Mexico, Nico Fullerton Avett suddenly remembered the day his father brought him to discover ice. No, not ice, he thought, dry ice. … Continue reading

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Beginnings #11: To the Cleaner Air

The hills surrounding Los Angeles are lush and green, and are filled with windy roads connecting gated driveways.  The hills keep the smog in.  To the west, towards the Pacific, the lushness continues, but to the east, there is desert.  … Continue reading

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Beginnings #10: School

Those first days of college are filled with hope, aren’t they? The course catalog thick and heavy in my hands, a tome of endless, limitless knowledge. The classes in those pages could lead me on an infinite number of paths. … Continue reading

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Beginnings #9: Chorizo y Mahou

First, rub the ripe, just sliced tomato onto the crisp, fresh bread. Smear in some olive oil. Pick some chorizo from the big, plastic bowls brimming with sausage made days before from local pigs, each farmer donating choice cuts of … Continue reading

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Beginnings #8: The Farrier’s Son

It was sunny and the wind was blowing from the west the day that Jack Mudge’s father died. He was a farrier by trade. A horse had reared up and the front left hoof came down square on his chest, … Continue reading

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