Running For The 2:10 (Book) - 6/16/2017 5:06:35 AM
Congrats on your latest book. An excerpt would be helpful for readers to determine if they wanted to read more.
Ron
The Wall (Short Story) - 3/1/2017 7:56:14 AM
A beautiful story of your lost friend, Dot. And the song wall adds another dimension of remembrance. In that year, 1967, I occasionally drove along El Camino in Burlingame. The huge eucalyptus trees so close to the pavement were all scarred. Yes, in those days it was common for young people to lose their lives in those first reckless driving years.
Ron
The Wall (Short Story) - 2/28/2017 3:04:10 PM
Such a moving story about your friendship with Dot. I agree that Dot is with the music.
The Dress (Short Story) - 12/18/2016 6:44:46 AM
The gift, so appreciated that it wouldn't go away. Wonderful story.
Ron
Bumper Sticker 1960 (Short Story) - 10/8/2016 8:30:37 AM
Though I was an oblivious 4-year-old at that time, you transported me into that era as though I was reliving it. Well done! Thank you for sharing your eloquently-written and cute short story.
Scott
Bumper Sticker 1960 (Short Story) - 10/6/2016 5:44:39 AM
What a lovely story. I'm amazed at your memory of events that day. And your take on politics at 10 years old. I don't think I knew anything about politics at 10.
When I was about 13, a friend whose mother was a wheel in local Republican politics had a job for us. Doug invited Roger and I, along with John, to join him in making money on Saturday distributing political flyers to all the mailboxes in our town of 15,000. Mrs. Roddis, heir to the company's fortune drove her Cadillac up and down every street and we ran from house to house stuffing 1956 Eisenhower/Nixon pamphlets in every mailbox (the first junk mail?).
In addition to something like 10 or $20 cash for our services, she gave us tons of left over Halloween candy to our delight.
In 1960 our high school held a mock Republican Convention. After a mighty battle, of course Nixon won. By that time I was already in the Kennedy camp but couldn't vote until 1964 and Kennedy was already dead.
Ron
Bumper Sticker 1960 (Short Story) - 10/5/2016 12:46:00 AM
I enjoyed your well-written and very interesting Memoir. There may be something to be said that we hang on to some of our convictions no matter what.
The Write Motivation (Article) - 5/12/2016 8:11:24 AM
Your title would have been even more intriguing had your name been, Wright. ;-) But your name, in itself, is very intriguing.
And, by your beautifully written article, it's easy to see that you have been a superlative writer all your life through your many influences like Professor Eckles. My professors, too, inspired my writing.
I did not go to a prestigious college like Mills. But I had an exceptional freshman English teacher and a church group advisor that was probably of mixed blood, with the look and voice of James Earl Jones, and sang hymns, folksongs and spirituals like no other.
Our group joined a activist white Presbyterian minister in Madison one weekend in the spring of 1962 for a crash course in civil rights at the University of Wisconsin. My twin brother and I stayed in the upscale suburban home of the black editor of an agricultural journal. His children went to Beloit. The high point of our time there was a meeting with a young black activist I can only describe, because I don't know what his name was, as something like Stokely Carmichael. He gave us a vivid and articulate description of what it was like to be a black scholar in a white institution. "I not only have to be better, I have to be better than the very best, to prove myself in this place."
Thank you for your courage and breaking the color barrier at exclusive women's colleges I've had the privilege of working with several professors who were the first blacks to enter the University of Texas at Austin.
Ron
The Write Motivation (Article) - 5/12/2016 1:15:27 AM
I'm glad I read your touching and inspiring article. There are so many times I feel swamped by social media obligations, but casting all of those seemingly futile aspersions aside, writing in itself is my "obligation." Your professor helped you tune your voice and embrace your own obligation which fulfilled itself marvelously.
As The Crow Flies- A Lesson In Workplace Integrity (Article) - 5/10/2016 6:59:41 AM
Some very good advice and a wonderful crow analogy.
While I'm not from the "greatest" generation, I pride myself in being born before, and not with, the "baby boomers." Hence, I look upon the baby boomers as being largely narcissistic, unrealistic, and self-indulgent. As a result, largely willing to blame everything and everyone except themselves when it comes to their troubles.
While I was moving up in the ranks, I was very fortunate to have very good, kind, considerate, loyal, and skilled mentors as superiors (both in higher education and industry). That changed in later years when the Depression-era and war veterans relinquished the reins to baby boomers. In addition to many proponents of quick solutions to management, one of the most popular books to read became Machiavelli.
In later years, I found that people with cutthroat personalities were often selected as managers so that the administration could use them for scapegoats when cutting staff and doing the other kinds of short-term decision-making required to stay on top of a rapidly changing management landscape. While skills of certain types became very valuable, they were easily discarded when it was learned that they could be "outsourced."
You are absolutely right about today's workplace. There is no loyalty except to putting on a persona of pleasantness and personal selfishness. I'm certainly glad I left the workforce for writing and grateful that the many students that I mentored as graduate assistants all have integrity and are doing well.
Ron
As The Crow Flies- A Lesson In Workplace Integrity (Article) - 5/10/2016 12:50:46 AM
Loved how you got your points across...since she'd already been dumped on by a crow, and I can picture it vividly through your description, I suppose I should refrain from adding that she ate crow.
