Monthly Archives: August 2017

You know that parenting superstition that if you think of a catastrophe, and if you say it out loud, then you prevent it from happening? Here’s hoping that the following blog post has something like that effect. In this case, I’m hoping that bringing something to you, readers, will magically dispel the universe’s need for it to keep happening. In this case, we’re not really talking about a catastrophe, just Dar’s latest obsession. He has outgrown many of his previous […]

If you’re like me, you’ve read way too many comparisons of our 45th President to our 37th; as evidenced by the ubiquity of the meme picture that crosses over their faces. And sure, it’s true that there are parallels, some of which have been known to cheer up Democrats, considering Richard Nixon’s eventual fate. Perhaps the clearest similarity regards the zeitgeist, or “spirit of the times.” When policemen were shot and killed at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas in […]

As their plane came within laser range of the mothership, Martina labored not to appear astonished. The crew on the mothership would have visual now, and she couldn’t afford to look as though she’d never seen the massive monster up close before. It was a thing of almost-beauty, two city-sized teacups locked together at the rims, glistening with a black-silver metal alloy that sparkled better than polished obsidian. It had minor curved ridges all the way around it, an undulating […]

Is Dar my sun, or my moon? Or am I his? Granted, those weren’t pressing questions during the planning of our cosmic pilgrimage to Oregon to see a total solar eclipse for the first time in our lives. Bigger questions: will Dar be able to camp for the first time? Considering we’re camping on a friend’s friend’s farm, will Dar’s noises drown out the farm animals and annoy our lovely hosts? How will we manage Dar in general? Will Dar […]

…at some point

Parts of the air battle were going terribly. M.U. had managed to staunch the bleeding of the early phase, where the losses were near 1-to-1. At this point, the A.A. had about 70,000 planes left, and M.U. about 26,500. Perhaps the A.A. had led with its best soldiers, more likely the ones with the most experience in non-Earth g. Perhaps M.U. had overcome an early case of nervousness. Whatever the case, M.U. was doing incrementally better, occasionally knocking out two […]

Until last weekend, Dar had never been to a water park. Then again, he wasn’t the only one. On our family’s drive out to Waterworld California, I asked wifey, “Have you ever been on a waterslide?” “Of course.” “When?” “Orlando.” “You went to one of the water parks there?” “Sure.” “Really? Cause when I was in Florida I went to four Disney parks and two Universal parks, but not the water parks.” “What is a water park?” After a little […]

You and I have both read a lot of post-mortems about the 2016 presidential election, a lot of thinkpieces about the unthinking and unthinkable Donald Trump. But here’s a question I haven’t seen anyone take seriously: did we Americans assume that digital culture would gradually lead to a more enlightened population, only to wake up on November 9th and realize that it has only enhanced our more regressive elements? Did we look up for a minute from our smartphones, see […]

Julia Maciel had barely slept during the two nights since her lakeside chat with Godfrey. How could he have known about Martina’s kids? Martina was tabloid-famous, yes, but her kids were born years after the founding of New Dagreb. This little snow-globe-paradise was supposed to be entirely cut off from media, except when new members managed to find the pneumatic tube. Could Isabel or Kenyatta have said something? After bojutsu training, Julia pulled Isabel aside. “Isabel? Do you have a […]

There’s a new Vice episode about autism, and they pack a lot of good information into 40 minutes. The first featured kid, Griffin, is a lot more like Dar than most media representations of autism. Like Dar, Griffin is seven, male, non-verbal, uses a tablet for a talker, and it’s a minor miracle when he can express his needs. So for those of you who are reading this and want a video sense of what Dar is like (something I don’t […]