Month: October 2024

  • Short Story Review: “My Camp” by Joshua Cohen

    (The short story “My Camp” by Joshua Cohen appeared in the October 21st, 2024 issue of The New Yorker.)

    Photograph by Naila Ruechel for The New Yorker

    So… What to make of “My Camp?” I guess I could say that Joshua Cohen wrote a story that I had no idea where it was going. That was refreshing. After that, I’m not sure what to think. I know I didn’t hate this story. It was a bit long; it did go on, and could have used some trimming. But, I’m just not sure…

    It started out well; lulled me into thinking this was going to be a comedic take on upstate home ownership. Then, Cohen threw a curveball, which had the story move in an altogether different direction, only to come back to the camp at the end. I’m not even sure the narrator learned or changed an any way, which normally would cause me to pan the story, but in this piece, that might have been the point?

    What I identified with was the narrator’s frustration with there not being a middle ground when it comes to October 7th, and the Gaza war. How people want the narrator to take a side, and the more pressure that is put on him, the more he digs in to not take a side. How if everyone is blindly going in one direction, you should go the opposite way. That resonated, especially in light of current events in the Mid-East.

    But I still couldn’t tell if this piece was satire, a pointed take on conviction in light of what is happening, or was this just supposed to be a joke? I would hate to think that I am clutching my pearls here, thinking it’s too soon to even remotely make any artistic comment on Gaza, as I believe one of the main reason to have art is to comment on difficult issues. Yet, wasn’t this just a story about a guy that got comfortable with scamming people so he could own a home?

    There isn’t a clear easy answer to this story, which I feel was Cohen’s point. Were people really trying to help? Does throwing money at a problem fix anything? Is greed inevitable? Is there no safety in the world and you have to take it when you get it? I could go on and on with all the questions this story brought up in me, and perhaps I should read it again. Though I don’t think that will help me find any answers. Anyway, maybe that’s just human nature – looking for answers.

    I’m open to hearing what other people think on this one. Drop a comment, let me know what you think about this story.

  • Autumn Memories, Sort of (Unedited)

    There is a serious Autumn chill in the air today, and it’s awesome. This was the first day that I could put on a button-down shirt, and a sweater, and a coat. Leaves are changing color in the City, and it’s getting darker earlier. My wife loves this time of year because we can leave the bedroom window cracked, making it all chilly in there, and sleep under all the comforters. (But I hate Pumpkin spice, so don’t get me started on that shit.) For a guy who loves Fall, this was like Heaven.

    As a kid growing up in Texas, Autumn didn’t start until November. And even then we had a couple of Thanksgivings were we had to run the air conditioner – not that it stopped my father from building a fire in the fireplace. Usually, by Halloween, it started to noticeably cool down at night, so you’d have to put on a sweater ort a coat. Maybe the leaves would just start changing color. I do remember several Halloweens where we were sweating while Trick or Treating. Depending on what your costume was, this could make the evening a very sweaty affair.

    Sadly, Fall in Texas was not a long season. As soon as it started, a month later it was December, and full on Texas winter. All the leaves had fallen, and it was a chilling 50 degrees out. Basically, you had one month to get all you Autumnal fun in.

    And then by March, it was Spring, and warm again.

  • Gone Fishin’

    I know I am doubling up on the colloquial gerund jokes for titles of late, but my day got away from me and didn’t have time for a full blog.

    So… reading on the couch listening to Bobby Timmons instead.

    Catch you tomorrow.

  • Sketchbook

  • ODDS and ENDS: Doomscrolling is Back, My Picked Apple Goal, and Letting Go

    (I didn’t say no, but that’s not a yes…)

    I am back to my old doomscrolling ways, like it was October 2020. Oh, and this has 100% to do with the 2024 Election. The nerves have started kicking up again, and I keep scrolling on all the platforms looking for something to make me feel better, help me relax, and tell me that everything is going to be okay because the rest of America would never do what I think the polls are hinting that they might do and plunge us into another four years of orange chaos!!! If I learned anything about the internet, if you search long and hard enough, you will find what you are looking for.

    We went apple picking last weekend, and I even wrote blog about it, AND I even got a weird comment about it, which I think was snarky and sarcastic. As what happens with apple picking, you bring a shit ton of apples home. The wife does a good job of making a couple of deserts from the apples, and we put apples in the kid’s lunch, which she claims that she eats, or someone eats. Yet, year after year, we have to throw away some of our apples because they have sat on the counter too long, and are starting to rot. This year, we made a pact in our home to collect fewer apples, in the hopes that we will be less wasteful. And damn it, I’m holding to that; I will eat an apple a day, maybe two even, not just to avoid going to the doctor, but to do my part in ensuring that we eat every stinking apple that we selected from a farm in upstate New York!

    So what is the difference in giving up, and letting something go? If you give up you’re a quitter, if you let it go, then you are practicing self-care? There is a fine line there. But when this question pops into my head, this is the scene that plays out…