How Not To Write

“The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers.” ~ William James

Like many county seats in Ohio, Lancaster was once a vibrant agricultural center. A town with money. This source of revenue dried up in the late 1920s in the run up to [...]

Photo credit: drooo (Flickr)
I am on the Blue Line. I just arrived but it feels like I’ve already been here for a week. I should be reading, but I’m fumbling with my phone.
I thought I’d take the train instead of a cab, that I might lose myself a bit in the morning rhythm [...]

I am standing on a cliff above the Russian River. The green stone is in my hand and the sun has been setting forever.
Try as I might, I cannot find a good way to explain the fact that seals and cows live just a few hundred yards away from each other. The best [...]

We take the night train from Zürich to Paris. We arrive at dawn. It is Sunday. The city is silent.
This is the final day of the Tour de France. I had a choice between hiking in the Alps, going to Sicily to watch a Mt. Etna erupt, or coming to Paris [...]

Image credit: Thomas Hawk (Flickr)
I am in a hotel room in York, Pennsylvania. We are in York to pick up a tractor, but not until tomorrow. My two best friends are watching Desperate Housewives, while I am sitting at the table trying to concentrate on Montaigne.
That probably makes me sound like a snob [...]