Drive like there is a shortage of partsTravel like there are no rental carsEat like the store shelves are thinDine out like the staff has no insuranceConserve as if the grid could failShare as if the neighbors have nothingExercise as though the ERs are infectiousMask up as though the ICUs are fullCall like they can’t …
Author Archives: Shawn
Parable of the Flood
A man and his home are under threat of a terrible flood. As the nearby river overflows its banks and fills his yard, the man’s neighbors come by on a tractor and ask if he would evacuate with them. “No thanks,” he answers, “I believe God will save me.” His neighbors nod and drive away …
Unbother
No real thoughts tonight, and that’s the point. Spent time at the cafe tonight, and even though I sat with people I knew, I didn’t talk. Said few words. Earbuds and a book. Left early. Sometimes, I just want to exist in the presence of people, and not be expected to stroke their egos. Just once. …
21 Austin
On a warm and hazy Friday morning, July 28, 2000, I pulled in to Austin in my red ’94 Mitsubishi Mirage with my first carload of possessions, just in time for my first big-city rush hour, with a wild dream but completely bedraggled from the overnight drive. Twenty-one years later, I’m still fuckin’ tired. I’m …
Ethyldivinol
Alcohol is the catalyst which slows me down so that everything overwhelms me, by which the profane becomes profound, in which patterns emerge in the chaos, and for one brief moment I find god. Everything suddenly makes sense, because I am too incapacitated to hold all the infinite possibilities in my head. Divinity by chemical …