Archives in Category: Personal Pleas

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Sacking 101

Posted on August 22, 2004

If you think this essay is going to be about football, then don’t read any further. You’ll be wasting your time.

Sacking 101 is a course I’d like to see supermarkets offer their employees, especially those who stand at the ends

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Brittany

Posted on August 17, 2004

For a long time now I’ve felt that Brittany Spears needs to climb off the stage, cover her navel, and go home. Instead I’m regaled via AOL and magazine racks at the grocery check-out about how she’s learning to be

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Telephone Trick

Posted on August 16, 2004

I spent part of the morning trying to change my long distance calling plan, inquiring about the recycling services of our trash disposal company, and following up on a couple health insurance questions. Since these issues all required telephone calls,

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Chicken, Egg?

Posted on August 10, 2004

The English language has a certain chicken-or-the-egg factor about it. Only it’s called the-noun-or-the-verb. And it’s all about words that begin life in one category but end up being used in the other. Often we don’t know which came first.

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Failed Writing Exercise

Posted on August 1, 2004

As a writer, I’m always interested in ways to hone my skills; so, from time to time, I do practice exercises. Recently I came across one that set me thinking. The assignment was to spend ten minutes writing down everything

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Trash

Posted on July 21, 2004

My assistant, Kyle, hasn’t emptied his trash for ten years. Not that kind of trash; I mean the trash folder on his computer.

I was surprised when he revealed this as we worked on my web site last week. I’m

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Unnecessary Things

Posted on July 17, 2004

We are plagued with a particularly heavy and resistant mosquito population this summer, and it keeps me inside at a time when our yard is at its loveliest. As I sit in the family room and stare out the window,

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National Conventions

Posted on July 12, 2004

I have this creepy feeling that the upcoming National Conventions, both Democratic and Republican, are completely unnecessary even though the first is less than three weeks away.

In earlier years, these conventions brought various factions together to weave a fabric of

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The Real Thing

Posted on July 4, 2004

Today is Independence Day in a presidential year, and I have a modest suggestion for celebrating it.With coast-to-coast parades and picnics, there are many opportunities for politicians to promote, promise, and preach.

But what I’ve noticed most about recent political campaigns

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The Plot

Posted on June 1, 2004

Plot eludes me, which is why I may end up being relegated to the role of a personal memoirist for the rest of my life. I write effectively and even emotionally, but I cannot string a story together.

What should

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