I had planned on writing a series of reminders to the president elect: that we didn’t elect him so much as the ideals he gave us courage to hope for; that he must now face the future with humility, fear and trembling; that his power is not his own, but belongs to the people he [...]

I really don’t understand why national election days aren’t also national holidays. It seems to me that, if we really want a democracy that considers the voice of every person, we should make it easier for every person to vote. At least for national elections. It took me about an hour, but some of my [...]

I don’t know how anyone can listen to Obama’s campaign platform and not agree with the goals and principles he expresses or not feel the swell of pride and hope, despite the cynicism.
More than anything, as I’ve said before, he seems to be a man who embraces balance and cooperation, who is studied, thoughtful, and [...]

This is a bibliographic essay that surveys the scholarship and reception of H. P. Lovecraft’s work from 1990 to 2004. More background information about this essay can be found in this post.

Lovecraft Rising - Upload a Document to Scribd

This poem is interesting for me because it follows a tight structure: nine stanzas, nine lines each, each line with nine syllables. It was an experiment that resulted from a poetry studies class. I think it turned out OK, for what it is.

Canyon Fall - Upload a Document to Scribd

The National Novel Writing Month kicks off again November 1st. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. If it sounds "gimmicky," that’s because it is. The purpose is to generate output and overcome the hesitations that keep most people from writing much of anything.

I got an email the other day that contained the content of this post. In the post, the author creates an analogy that’s supposed to explain the problem with Obama’s "spread the wealth around" statement to the now (in)famous Joe the Plumber. Take a minute to read the analogy before you continue …
Here’s my response:
The [...]

A little poem about discovery and the feminine in the mountains of Colorado.

Driving Through Salida - Upload a Document to Scribd

This essay was my senior thesis for my religious studies B.A. I decided to focus on Native American spirituality because of a course I took that fall with Jacquelyn Bralove, who had lived and worked on the Navajo reservation for five years. (This led to my time spent volunteering on the reservation for the next [...]

This is the second of the two things I wrote in high school that I would share with others. I actually used this piece as my college admissions essay by adding some “editorial” to the end of the story.
As with the other high-school piece, I keep this one not because I think it’s good, but [...]