In late 1981, just about the time Comics Scene was debuting, I got a call from Jim Shooter, inviting me to lunch. The Marvel Editor-in-Chief met me with Jim Starlin in tow to discuss the company’s new creator-owned contracts, which enticed Starlin back to the company. The first work to benefit from this would be […]
This has been a much needed week, a break from the high-pressured adjustment to teaching online and working with the students along the way. It’s Spring Break and I have been enjoying it immensely. Yes, I’m still doing my part to flatten the curve but I like being home at the desk. While I cannot […]
The other day, Deb commented that 32 seemed like a very adult age. Today, Robbie would have hit that milestone and once again, I wonder what he would be doing. Robbie with Kendra and Mary, two of the people ensuring he was kept busy and active while being treated. When he took ill, he was […]
Seven years ago today, we took possession of our current home. While we didn’t move in for another ten days, I see this as our formal arrival to Maryland. What the townhouse looks lie each Halloween. It still doesn’t feel like home. We had twenty years in Fairfield where we set down one root after […]
I like being home. I like my desk, my dog, my coffee. I have a ton of things to watch or read. Being home isn’t an issue for me. We’ve ventured out of the house to walk the dog 3-4 times a day, saying hi to neighbors, with everyone keeping a polite distance, although the […]
On Thursday, we watched the tide turn and it became increasingly obvious we would be shutting the school to keep in line with other states. The governor confirmed that at 4 p.m. and by 5:30, the email went out to notify staff, parents, and students. We already had called a two-hour delay for Friday so […]
Surprisingly, the annual Farpoint convention sort of snuck up on me in the sense that I have been so focused on school work that with just days to go, I have had to shift my focus and prepare to be a writer/editor/bon vivant once more. The show is tremendous fun, with lovely fans, but even […]
Teaching is incredibly time consuming, especially when the teacher makes the mistake of scheduling various components of a research essay for five classes with overlapping deadlines. As a result, not only am I planning and teaching the usual course load, but now I have lots of documents to review. To help them craft the best […]
As things developed, I had the chance to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker twice in December, and in-between I had the opportunity to read up and discuss at length as we all tried to process the final installment in the nine-picture saga. Right up front, I’ll say I was entertained and mostly satisfied […]
On this, the final day of 2019, as is my custom, I am looking back on my reading. I appear to have read 214 books, a mix of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. According to the stats at Goodreads the shortest work was Eric Zawadzki’s Eternal and the longest, at 1008 pages, was The Books […]