cityofchapin

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Cassette Tape Player

I drafted, revised, and submitted a poem called “I Want a Walkman” earlier this year. I see it as a love letter to my youth and the cassette tape player attached to my hip. Maybe Shaun’s ever-growing fascination with retro media (he requests vinyl records for gifts) inspired me to write it. Or maybe the inspiration was rooted in nostalgia. Or a combination of both.   I miss those chunky…

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"All I know of hate is that it will never beat the love out of me"*

Despite the hope that I carried with me, I knew the results before the polls even closed. That uneasy feeling settled in my bones early Tuesday morning, filling my belly with anxiety. I held it there. I tried to brush it off as paranoia. Yet, I recognized this feeling. It was the same one that leaned on my shoulders in 2016. We can’t go back. We mustn’t go back.   Photo by Photo By:…

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Poetry Editor

Photo by Pixabay I am a bastion of poetry. You see this annually on this blog during April and peppered throughout the year. My poetry break posts exist for two reasons: 1.) I am blocked, and 2.) I love pushing poetry on friends, family, random strangers on the street.   This is not a complaint. I need to get that out of the way before getting into this post. In no way, shape, or form am I…

[cityofchapin]

Life and Learning: A Small Update

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio After reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, the teaching bug has reared its ugly little head again. The teaching bug that I once forced out of my head midway through my undergraduate years after taking a sociology of education course and hating every second of it. Especially after learning the inner workings of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I wonder,…

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Clippings Pt. 2: Gorilla George's

Shaun (you remember him, right?) has taken an interest in the past. Not history in the sense of historical moments that made it into the textbooks, but the hidden stories in the community around him.   His most recent interest is Gorilla George’s, an “indoor amusement park” that was big in the 90s. It was the place to host your birthday party. Though, as years went by, its popularity began to…

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Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

Rating: ⭐⭐ Rating: 2 out of 5. Details: Title: Eruption Author(s): Michael Crichton and James Patterson Let’s Talk About It: The other day, I joked on Facebook about how Twisters probably had Michael Crichton rolling in his grave.1 I have since been corrected on that matter now that I have finished Eruption, a Michael Crichton novel written by James Patterson. When I saw Eruption’s book…

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Clippings

As regretful as it may be, sometimes I must renew my subscription to Newspapers.com for work, school, or personal research purposes. In this case, it was all three.   Lately, I have been saving clippings dealing with D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and obscenities laws—in this case, the ones that affected literature. Because I am experiencing some writer burnout, here are some articles I…

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The Boys omnibus volume 1

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. Details:  Title: The Boys Omnibus Volume 1  Contributors: Garth Ennis (Author), Darick Robertson (Illustrator) & Peter Snejbjerg (Illustrator)  What It’s About:  In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone’s got to make sure the “supes” don’t get out of line. And someone will! Billy Butcher, Wee…

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The Political Animal

“I am a political animal,” Neve says to me. They sit cross -legged on the love seat, coffee mug in hand, a magazine propped up with their knee. Their focus is on whatever article they’re reading. Maybe something political.  “What does that mean?” I ask.   “You’ll see,” they tell me. “You’ll see.”  The Things They Carried  Paloma carried a photograph of her parents in the rucksack she borrowed…

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Coming-of-Age Drama 'Oregon' by Don Winslow | Book Review

In high school, my friends and I made this plan to leave the Rio Grande Valley, make a break for it and head to Seattle. There were no wars then, at least none that would affect us in any way. The war on terror was still some years away when we drew up these plans. We would save enough money (how I would achieve this was still in question, as my only job was to focus on my studies) and once we…

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Book Review: Dietrich by Don Winslow, performed by Ed Harris

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. Review: Every Don Winslow book needs to be narrated by Ed Harris. His cadence just matches the grim, bleak worlds Don Winslow constructs. Maybe they’re worlds he traversed during his time as an investigator. In either case, they are worlds I don’t mind visiting for an hour and change.  Much like Deep Hole, Dietrich follows a flawed man who, at times, seems to…

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The Last Thing He Told Me: A Compelling Page-Turner with Unforeseen Twists

I received this copy of The Last Thing He Told Me through a GoodReads giveaway; I am uncertain if it came from Marysue Rucci Books/Simon & Schuster, but that’s my guess. I don’t read where these books are coming from when I enlist in these raffles. I mean, free books. No brainer. It’s not often when a book sucks me into the story immediately. It’s definitely one of those moments when reading…

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Honest Review: Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends by John Leguizamo

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 5. Review: Celebrity memoirs are a guilty pleasure. They usually offer zero substance or insight into someone’s mind outside of their need for attention and gratification. John Leguizamo’s Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends was no different. Although, I won’t lie; the $2.99 price tag* for the Kindle edition influenced my decision to…

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Review: 'Deep Hole' by Don Winslow, performed by Ed Harris

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. Review: I will forever hear Ed Harris’ voice when reading a Don Winslow novel from here on out (though, I’ll be honest, I’ve only read Savages because the movie looked interesting. Spoiler: the novel was miles better than the movie, though it had its moment).  I picked up Deep Hole because I needed something to listen to while I work on my rare book…

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from: "Ugly" by Warsan Shire

from: "Ugly"You are her mother.Why did you not warn her,hold her like a rotting boatand tell her that men will not love herif she is covered in continents,if her teeth are small colonies,if her stomach is an islandif her thighs are borders?What man wants to lie downand watch the world burnin his bedroom?Your daughter’s face is a small riot,her hands are a civil war,a refugee camp behind each…

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from: "Three Urdu Poems" by Vijay Seshadri

from: "Three Urdu Poems"don’t know why she still keeps my heart,as useless to her as an unpaired sandal.Fate abhors me and I abhor fate,and prayer can’t reconcile us.It’s as if you’re with me when I’m alone.It’s as if I’m alone when you’re with me. Seshadri, Vijay. “Three Urdu Poems.” 3 Sections. Graywolf Press, 2013, pp. 16-18.

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“For the two Utah congressmen who voted No, because “there is a chance women will return to be hit a few more times in order to stay on welfare.” by Valerie Wallace

“For the two Utah congressmen who voted No, because “there is a chance women will return to be hit a few more times in order to stay on welfare.” —October 1999Ask the wife shot& stabbed fourteen timeson her neighbor’s porchthe wife’s facegone, on the courthousesteps Ask the one dead in the courtroomthe one in her garage, against the garage wallthe one in her car, head splitin her children’s…