Monthly Archives: June 2019

Writing For a Living

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Roger Walck

Thank goodness I don’t have to write for a living. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Those that do often teach to pay the rent, to have a reliable income, or they spend a lot of time tooting their own … Continue reading →

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Dew Points

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Roger Walck

The TV weather reports are using the dew points more than the relative humidity to indicate the discomfort level as being more representative of what most of us feel, although the discomfort level varies by location (Miami, where they are … Continue reading →

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Train Didn’t Stop at Dundalk

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Roger Walck

I must have had a reputation for collecting odd stories for a long time. This is one of my favorites recently rediscovered as a clipping in my attic someone had sent me, but no indication of who sent it, or … Continue reading →

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Lant

Posted on June 21, 2019 by Roger Walck

“Lant: Gone and Best Forgotten,” by Herbert T. Pratt. Unknown publication, June 1987. You probably never heard of the chemical lant, but a century ago, it was a common English word for fermented urine. So says Herbert Pratt of New … Continue reading →

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The Saga of Dartos Tunic

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Roger Walck

“The Saga of Dartos Tunic,” by David A. Soskis, Yale Medical School, Class of 1968. “Smile A While,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 9/11/1967. (Clipping found in attic.) In the land of Genitalia, in another century Where the branches … Continue reading →

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Mike Royko On Leering

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Roger Walck

(Mike Royko, 1932-1997, was a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune whose column was reprinted in our local newspaper. I found this yellow clipping saved from many years ago in my attic. Here it is in its entirety, as closely … Continue reading →

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Heaven

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Roger Walck

“Hereafter, Faraway,” by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The New Yorker, 6/10 & 17/2019. Author Nguyen quotes a conceit in a film, “After Life,” by Hirokazu Kore-eda that the newly dead must first spend some time in a halfway house run by … Continue reading →

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An Old New Yorker Magazine

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Roger Walck

Recently, I came across an old New Yorker magazine in the attic from 5/12/2008. I don’t think of that as old, and it didn’t look old—it looked just like a current issue, but 11 years is a long time in … Continue reading →

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Garrison Keillor On Death, Funerals, and Military Service

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Roger Walck

In his recent Online column, Garrison Keillor has a great quote: My goal is to live long enough so that nobody who comes to my funeral remembers me. Sounds like a good goal to me, and better than most. Then, … Continue reading →

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On Death and Dying

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Roger Walck

“Poetry,” by Greg Jackson. The New Yorker, 4/29/2019. This is a piece of fiction, full of allegory that I have no time to unravel, but it had one insight that I found significant and wanted to pass on. A 30-something … Continue reading →

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