While waiting to check out

at a bookstore recently—remember those?—The Stoneslide was reminded of an important restaurant maxim. A customer two people ahead was complaining with vigor and petulance about an inconsequential matter. She was laying into the clerk, too, not only the store, despite this being out of the clerk’s control. The clerk was a pro, though, letting the […]

A Life Examined

Five Home Movies

1. April 2007 ME: Go ahead. Coo coo coo coo. [Lips making raspberry sound.] WIFE: Everyone, she just smiled. I’m telling you, she smiled at her daddy. It was amazing. Maybe she’ll do it again. ME: Coo cooo. Daddy makes a silly face. Silly faces. You like silly faces, don’t you? BABY: Waaahhhh. [Whining.] WIFE: […]

Writers at Work

Writers at Work: Jeffers

Resilience and consuming drive to produce are critical to writers. So is determination to stand tall before truths one confronts. A writer who wants to do work that lasts must be equal to the power of observed truth. Poet Robinson Jeffers was one of those writers. But in great writing, no truth is simple. The […]

Correctives

The Kids Are to Blame

The Stoneslide Corrective saw a bumper sticker the other day that read, “Kids who hunt, fish, and trap don’t mug little old ladies.” We wondered briefly if this claim was true. But the research to prove or disprove the claim exceeded our attention span, and we accepted the generalization in the way we accept so […]

The Cynic's Notebook

If something loves you,

pay it.

The Cynic's Notebook

If something loves you very much,

recognize its wisdom, taste, and intelligence.

A Life Examined

How Life Turns Into Art

I’m standing at the sink, peering into the mirror as I draw the razor up my face, erasing a line of white shaving cream. My five-year-old daughter reaches around me to put her hand under the running faucet. She brings the handful of water up to the top of her head, then draws her hands […]

The Stoneslide Chorus

The Rejection Generator Project

In the past couple of weeks we’ve had several requests from editors and writers who wanted to participate in The Rejection Generator Project. By all means, participate! We checked with Sylvester, who said, sure, feeding more raw material into the Generator should be okay as long as we keep close watch. However, he cautioned that […]

The Cynic's Notebook