I learned today of the passing of my Aunt Maxine Ridings. Talking about her with my mom this evening, one of the things that came up was how she has just always been part of our family, forever. Also, for her nieces and nephews,
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“Not Tonight” by Roger Darnell The things I find entertaining aren’t things I can write about. I like to imagine stories about our cat, taming her world, unafraid and attitudinal, eccentric and, well, beautiful. Our other cat inspires her own happy go lucky devil-may-care cavalier and friendly tales… which are still just cat fancies. Romantic stories from Europe, South America and Pennsylvania Amish Country beginning to take pixel-life in my imagination, are hopefully the right stuff and will someday prove worthwhile things I will have written about. For now they’re still in the layer just above my vision, in a…
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She stared, almost against her will, beginning to wonder whether Reverend Wallace's neighbor might somehow be able to fulfill her spiritual needs. She found herself being weakened by his voice… and his promise. He saw her look, and he smiled. "I can help you--no charge. It would be my pleasure."
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Tomorrow it will be twenty-one years since I began writing the following poem. That’s another story, and perhaps, another post… maybe one for twenty-one years from tomorrow. I selected the poem this evening after searching through the spreadsheet containing an archive of my poems with the date I wrote each one, collection information, and a column for me to track reviews underway with publications. The document was put together at another time in my life and career, when I was more diligent in submitting poetry to prestigious print publications and presses. Not sure if this one was ever submitted…
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"There's a way of playing, when safe with favorite cousins, wherein we find extra bravado, which fuels our most colorful descriptions of personalities or lifeforms...."
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In the late summer of 1989, I had an idea to approach the University of Central Florida’s student newspaper, “The Future,” about writing a column. I wrote the first one and very humbly submitted it in person to the editor, Scott Altman. Without much fanfare, it was accepted, and so it went for the next fifteen months. Ultimately, many positive experiences grew from these efforts. One esteemed instructor made much of my work and was instrumental in my winning a Scripps-Howard Foundation Fellowship for the column that appeared July 25, 1990, under the headline, “Wishing for Chicago Life in the…
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For a class project, my young cousin Allyssa Ridings recently shared some of her memories from a part of Southern Illinois widely known as Terrapin Ridge — the home for over 50 years to Beatrice Ridings, my grandmother. Many knew my Granny Bea as Aunt Bea or Miss Ridings, and at her home, just about everybody who was alive at the time on my mother’s and father’s sides of my family experienced things there that formed some of their warmest memories. Allyssa’s essay triggered my own recollections, and searching through some of my past writings, I found this poem, written…
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I met Beth Kiefert right at the beginning of the Spring semester in 1990. Aside from being awed by her beauty from the very first time I saw her, in our first conversations in the design and statistics classes we shared that semester, she impressed me with her brightness, sense of humor, kindness, and upbeat nature. One of five children, she let me know right away that family was very important to her, and as the weeks passed, after just a few stumbles, we found ourselves on pretty solid ground with each other. Fast-forward to June, and I was already…
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Ramble #10 by Roger Darnell Every step of my life, you have been here. Our shared life experiences as siblings is what made me want it for my children… even with all we have been through, bro. I really can’t imagine my life without there being a big brother, and you being him. And now, on the verge of you achieving something monumentally spectacular and completely self-driven, I am awestruck, and exceedingly proud. Rock on. Ramble January 17, 2008: #17 January 18, 2008: #16 February 1, 2009: #10 April 27, 2009: #9 October 3, 2009: #8 May 9, 2010: #7…