Posts Tagged With ‘ Mark O’Brien ’

I’ve been having trouble with the notion of authenticity for quite some time. My first challenge is one of definition. According to dictionary.com, authentic, whence derives authenticity, is defined like this: adjective: 1. not false or copied; genuine 2. having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified 3. representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified: 4. entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy In that definition, numbers 2 and 4 are subjective; that... Continue Reading

As the obsessive language freak I happen to be, I’m always sensitive to new expressions creeping into the vernacular. Most frequently, those expressions are meaningless; that is, they don’t actually express anything of substance. But they’re valuable for what they signal. And they signal four things about the people who use them. Those people: Likely don’t know what they’re talking about Don’t want you to know they don’t know what they’re talking about Need to fill up some time while they try to figure out what they’re talking about Want you to believe they’re sincere and... Continue Reading

I was sitting at my desk the other day with a characteristically blank look on my face. Anne walked by and asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “Nothing.” “You’re actually doing absolutely nothing?” she asked. “Is that even possible?” “Well, since you seem to be rather insistent about it, I’m drifting,” I said. “Drifting?” “Yes,” I said. “Did you see where that last thought went?” “No.” “Neither did I,” I replied. “And that’s exactly the point. I had the thought. It went somewhere. Now I have to find it.” “What’ll you do with it?” “I don’t... Continue Reading

When I visit schools to share my children’s books, the students always ask, “How do you know anyone will like them?” I say, “I don’t. But if I don’t write and publish them, I’ll never know.” When I write fiction for adults, the adults who read it always ask, “How do you know anyone will like it?” I say, “I don’t. But if I don’t write and publish it, I’ll never know.” When I tell people I’m taking a podcasting workshop because I want to do a podcast of my own, the people I tell always ask, “How do you know anyone will like it?” I say, “I don’t. But if I don’t... Continue Reading

In 1999, I was working at a small public-relations firm in Avon, Connecticut. My dentist was in the next town east, which, oddly enough, is West Hartford. (Everything is relative.) Exiting I-84 on Prospect Street, I drove north on Prospect, intending to turn left onto Farmington Avenue, the street on which my dentist’s office was located. At the intersection of Prospect and Farmington, I was the first to reach the traffic light. It was red. I stopped. I saw a woman step off the curb to my right, intending to cross Prospect Street. Appearing to have some physical and cognitive disabilities,... Continue Reading

Author’s Note: This story is an elaboration on a comment I posted in a thread initiated by my friend, Tammy Eldredge. It’s also a faithful recounting of an actual event and a very valuable lesson. In 1974, I was playing in a band with some guys who rented a house on West Street in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. We rehearsed in that house. The band was your garden-variety, blues-rock cover band. My bandmates and I were your garden-variety, blues-rock amateurs, for which playing in a band was an attempt to do something constructive while we were otherwise getting drunk, high, and myriad other forms... Continue Reading

As readers of my ravings likely know by now, my father was a U.S. Marine. To him — and, so, to us — time was an adversarial construct. There was no later. There was no gradually. There was no patience. There were just two things: (1) Now. (2) Now, God damn it! Growing up in an environment like that makes it rather difficult to come to any sort of peace with time. I’ve come to think that getting bored only means you’ve failed to master the fine art of doing nothing when there’s nothing to be done: a skill you can learn from any house cat. (John Gierach, Fool’s Paradise). I never knew... Continue Reading

“An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.” (George Eliot) As it pertains to the outcome of the midterm elections on November 8th, we’ve been hearing terms like shellacking, landslide, bloodbath, tsunami, wipeout, cataclysm, apocalypse, and fuggedaboudit. One can only hope that’s true. It’s unlikely, however, with all the feel-good baloney emanating from Washington ahead of the midterms that many of us will take the time to understand the implications of some of the mendacious rhetoric and economic... Continue Reading