Scene from a work in progress
Fort Klamath was behind him, and with it the diner where he’d asked the wrong question the right way.
Not Do you know Ethan Morgan? That would’ve gotten him a long look and a short goodbye.
He’d asked about the Wood River instead. About the mornings. About who fished early.
The waitress had refilled his coffee without being asked and said, like she was reciting a weather report, “There’s an older guy. Quiet. Shows up before most people. Parks down at the crossing by the bend where the willows thin. Doesn’t take fish. Doesn’t talk. If you’re going down there to make friends, you should pick a different river. Maybe Crystal Creek or the Williamson.”
“Why’s that?” Morgan had asked.
She’d shrugged. “Because he doesn’t look like he needs any. Friends.”
The Moon Is Howling
In a time of universal deceit, the truth may first appear as graffiti.
Which is unfortunate, because graffiti is also where you find the full spectrum of human consciousness: everything from Bob Dylan to bowel distress.
That’s not a metaphor. That’s geography.
When I was in college and living off campus, our neighborhood tavern was a proper dive – sawdust on the floor some nights like the owners were trying to absorb the sins committed on the premises….
Waiting for the Apocalypse (and Other Hobbies)
I'm not a doomsday prepper. I don't have a bunker stocked with freeze-dried meals and ammunition. I'm not an optimist either—optimists don't make it in journalism longer than a year before reality beats it out of them or they transition to PR. I'm just a guy who's been told THIS IS IT enough times to recognize the pattern.
And here's the pattern: the apocalypse keeps getting scheduled. Keeps getting hyped. Keeps getting monetized. And then keeps not quite arriving the way we were promised.
The Fourth Estate is Dead, Long Live The Machine
OK, our national media has two basic functions. The media's primary function—the one it won't admit—is managing scandals, not exposing them. It's a sophisticated filtration system that processes raw, disruptive truth into pasteurized product that protects the powerful and preserves the delicate "arrangements" holding everything together. The second-most important function is to deny the first function….
The House Always Wins (Because The House IS The Machine)
By the time you read this, there'll be another scandal, another sport, another player who thought they were smart enough to beat The Machine.
Here's what kills me: everyone acts shocked. Clutching pearls like they just discovered the stripper has daddy issues. Like they didn't see this coming the moment we turned every game into a real-time casino and every athlete into a walking prop bet.
The scandal isn't the scandal. The scandal is that we're surprised.