Category Archives: inspirations
mud, mountain lions, and my dad
The SciCom slugs have been out and about recently, perhaps seeking an escape from the swirling pre-graduation chaos? Part 1: Paintings and Pumas Last week, we attended the opening of the Science Illustration Program‘s exhibit at the Pacific Grove Museum … Continue reading
a thousand splendid planets
NASA’s Kepler team announced last week they’d found more than a thousand potential planets – after just *four months* of observation. The numbers make my head spin like…oh, never mind. (Since you asked, my favorite Kepler story lede? Dennis Overbye’s, … Continue reading
Seven Steps to a More Beautiful Face
“Water vapor is your enemy, heat is everything, and there is always another step,” says Sean. He runs a bronze foundry in Santa Cruz. Bronze casting is a messy, multi-step process that pulls beauty from chaos. And Sean is a … Continue reading
moonlight meditation
By the late 1990s, my grandfather could no longer read. To be visible, photos needed to hover near his visual peripheries. Then, Jiddou –“grandfather” in Arabic – couldn’t see me unless I stood off to his side. My Jiddou had … Continue reading
Election night, interviews, and mom
Today I had a conversation with a man who I have read about in history books. I’ve also seen a few movies about him. And the night Barack Obama was elected President; I saw this man’s face on a television … Continue reading
Vintage NASA hype gallery
Thanks to the Paleo-future blog and nasaimages.org (NASA + Internet Archive project)
Training to be a cage-fighter, er, writer
Among the lush pickings of memorable lines from the 2004 movie Napoleon Dynamite, one of the best is Kip’s to his brother: “Napoleon, don’t be jealous that I’ve been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that … Continue reading
Ten Jargon Poems
One day in the late 1980s, my friend S’mores and I were thrashing a rad quarter-pipe (skateboarding) at his house in the suburbs of Houston. S’mores’ Dad, responsible for a fleet of company cars, was reading about cleaning up spilled … Continue reading
Enjoyment, Fear and Confidence – Zinsser’s take
photo © 2008 hojusaram | more info (via: Wylio) I was reading the closing chapters of Zinsser’s “On Writing Well”. Zinsser has an uncanny knack of pointing out things that I hadn’t thought of before, but that seem obvious once … Continue reading
Family wisdom: How to write stories that sell
My mother gave me this wonderful old slip of paper hand typed by my grandmother many decades ago. It is a set of guidelines for “Writing Stories that Sell.” The advice proffered is still valid, so I wanted to share. … Continue reading
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