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Please Don’t Pass the Potatoes
Every now and then, I feel like I might be losing my identity. It started innocently enough today while I was in my 8th hour of splitting wood this weekend. I was listening to the Splendid Table podcast episode 758: Summer Parties with Nicole A. Taylor. She is the author of the new cookbook, Watermelon and… Continue reading
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Just Another Brick in the Flavor Wall
Dropping Noah off at school on a beautiful June morning, I’ve returned to face the ten dump truck loads of dirt that I volunteered to take. I need them, but I need them to take the forms that I need them to. That is okay. It is my famous “Give a Mouse a Cookie From… Continue reading
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A Chef’s Block
Rice is life. About that stuff that went down last month. I was walking on a long journey to places I did not know or understand. I knew I was not eating. I knew I was not sleeping. Somehow I felt that the momentum of my entire life could push me through the valleys of… Continue reading
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Sunday Driving Recollections
Writer’s note: This is the first published piece I ever wrote. It was featured in the Island News (Port Aransas, Texas) on December 12, 1985. I always loved how Ray Cushing the editor added the editors note under my by-line: Sunday Driving Recollections By Mike Jackson (Editors Note: Mike Jackson is a novelist and poet… Continue reading
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The Great Dodge Space Time Disaster
It was affectionately known as 18 Mile Road. It ran north-south from Mustang Island to Padre Island in the South Texas Gulf Coast. Officially called Park Road 53 back then and today is known as Texas highway 361. I recall being on it for the first time in June of 1984. There, a little south… Continue reading
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In the sound proof room
When you are invisible, you were also silent under the radar and the effort to push sound over the walls from the depths of unseen and unheard that you are, drains you of what energy is left. You lay there on the floor with the side of your face feeling the subtle vibrations the ground… Continue reading
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There is a War…Part Two
When a good man goes to war, he did not know he was a man. He was waiting to know what he was and what he wanted, but now it is decided. He is unimportant. He is told the reason matters, but really, it does not. Only what side of the numbers he stands on… Continue reading
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Both of me, opposite sides of the wall
I woke up with Miss World by Hole in my mind. I am pretty certain this will be the last outing with the camper this year. This will mean that it was out for three extended periods this year which will account for 18 days and all, I guess I can’t complain about that too much.… Continue reading
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When you’re down and low…
I woke up Monday to learn that my friend Jim McLean died of COVID-19. Jim was a friend from the early 80s when I used to camp at lone Oak campgrounds in East Canaan Connecticut. I was close friends with his sister and he was close friends with my cousin Gary. His poor family is… Continue reading
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The Rain and it’s companions
Somewhere beyond the rain, somewhere beyond the mud, the mosquitoes, and the uncertainty, I believe there is peace. If I had to sum up this vacation week in July 2021 I would have to do it like this: Kenny Rogers gambler style. “Somewhere in the darkness, the gambler he broke even because in his final words… Continue reading