About Me

World-Famous

I donâ€™t have very many friends because they take too much time.
I â€™m poor, and I live in my sisterâ€™s basement. I donâ€™t have a television. I hate dogs. I spend a lot of time on the Internet. I play chess. I drive an old Ford Taurus named Estelle. I collect esoterica for which I get paid $10 a week by the local newspaper and another $5 a week by a paper in Washington. They think Iâ€™m pretty smart. Hence the paycheck. Sometimes I write stuff for free. I keep most of it at my blog, Dirt Window . I read lots of books. I bake bread and eat chocolate. I love road trips. I teach English . My students worship me (except for itâ€™s a Christian school, so I think thatâ€™s kind of not kosher). I donâ€™t have very many friends because they take too much time.

My Interests

Because of a semi-serious addiction to books, I limit myself to a single, one-hour library visit each week.

I'd like to meet:

People who think, especially people who think like me.

Music:

Iâ€™ve heard of it.

Movies:

What About Bob?

Television:

I donâ€™t have one.

Books:

Theyâ€™re very good.

Heroes:

Annie Dillard, Graham Greene, Cormac McCarthy, Kurt Vonnegut, Virginia Woolf

My Blog

Something wasnt right about the sun

Something wasn't right about the sun. It's rays washed over a pocket of gravel, asphalt slabs, a fallen steel pole. Seagulls cried nearby, their calls stretching across the thin blue light. The sea cr...
Posted by Eric on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:57:00 PST

How Does Carrie Die?

On the night that Carrie killed herself, she'd been making a list at least that's how it had started. There were numbers stacked in the left margin and the next day's date in the top right corner. A...
Posted by Eric on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:23:00 PST

My trip to Russia

I went to Russia this summer. I wrote many of my memories in the group journal (which was lost). This is a story I wrote about that experience. I apologize in advance for the inside jokes, but I trust...
Posted by Eric on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:37:00 PST

Whats Wrong with the Dance?

Recently found a gem of a book called What's Wrong with the Dance? (1935). The writer, John R. Rice, identifies himself as a fundamentalist. Here are some quotations for your edification (or entertain...
Posted by Eric on Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:36:00 PST

Toilet Research for a Friend

Opened my mail yesterday morning to find the following urgent request from my friend, Jon:Eric, would you do some research and write a paragraph for me regarding the invention of the toilet? I've made...
Posted by Eric on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:34:00 PST

Mojave Phone Booth

Here's a review I wrote for one of my new favorite films: Categorized as drama, Mojave Phone Booth is the most tragically comic film I've ever seen. A showing at the Boise International Film Festival ...
Posted by Eric on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:28:00 PST

What about the golem?

A friend recommended that I read Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and it is amazing. Toward the end of the story, Joe Kavalier, a Czech emigre, is considering his life's...
Posted by Eric on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:31:00 PST

The Problem with Proselytizing

Faith is fused with identity. I am what I believe. As a result, the discovery of a truth opens new worlds and changes my character. What, then, is the danger of conversion, trying to bring others i...
Posted by Eric on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:28:00 PST

Were you born Republican?

A study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience suggests that a person's political persuasion is largely determined by how his brain works. For instance, conservatives tend to be people who are s...
Posted by Eric on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:12:00 PST

Christian Addicts

California pollster George Barna recently released a study, the results of which showed that "born-again" Christian Americans are nearly twice as likely to be dealing with an addiction as are secular ...
Posted by Eric on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:17:00 PST