Can You Hear the Suspense?

November 8, 2025 / roughwighting / 80 Comments

As Gregory and I raced our final mile, the sun rose, and I saw the shifting shadow.

“Huh,” I said. Gregory ignored me, outpacing me by a stride and allowing sweat to drop into his hooded brown eyes.

I used to love running this last surge before my body stopped, heart pounding, blood coursing through my veins. I’d pretend I was flying, feet off the ground, hair swinging behind me, legs like a panther.

But with Gregory joining me on these early morning runs now, there was always this competition thing going on. No conversation, no smiles and kisses before we warmed up and began a leisurely mile before the steadier second and third one. Just a serious, straight-ahead, running-is-my-life stride. Continue reading →

The Eight-Armed Nanny

April 13, 2025 / roughwighting / 70 Comments

If only Mombo had not disappeared. If only the best Nanny I had from babyhood ‘til 14 years of age had stuck around for my high school graduation. For my college graduation. And how about my doctorate celebration?

Of course, my doctorate thesis is “The Disappearance of Octopuses from 2100 to …?” Continue reading →

A Dreamy Spring Break

March 29, 2025 / roughwighting / 105 Comments

I read the brochure and wonder: Dare I? Dare I not? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go away without really going away at all.

Or, well, going far away to a destination unknown by taking a 15-minute drive to a tiny shop called “Dreamscapes.” Continue reading →

Swimming Upstream Through the Pages

January 4, 2019January 19, 2019 / roughwighting / 166 Comments

I don’t know about you, but during much of 2018 I felt like I was swimming Upstream. Each day seemed to bring Just One Damned Thing after Another; other days seemed like A Walk in the Park.

On the personal side, my concussion in May led to the The Longest Nine Months of feeling like I lived in an Alternate Side, a side where writing and teaching and thinking were an Unlikely Pilgrimage. Continue reading →