I am fascinated by reality TV. I love the cheesy gimmicks and the faux competitions. What is better than seeing alliances made and betrayed, secrets kept by shouting them out? I can’t get enough of the building tension as one contestant after another is sent home, banished, excommunicated, forever branded a loser. I have studied reality TV. […]
Pacific Heights is a wealthy San Francisco neighborhood that brings tourists to see the huge houses – the houses of Larry Ellison of Oracle, Senator Diane Feinstein, the writer Danielle Steele. The streets rise up from Cow Hollow until they reach the crest at Broadway, an uber-wealthy street at the very top of Pacific Heights. […]
Since moving to San Francisco I have become a loyal fan of Uber. But Uber is pricy and one day I heard about a cheaper alternative called Sidecar, the “People’s Uber”. I decided I would try it out the next time I needed to go to the airport. A few days later I have another […]
After nine months in San Francisco, I went to the East Coast for the summer. My friends said it was wise to get out of the Bay Area in July and August so I arranged my schedule to be away until after Labor Day. When I returned I wondered how it would feel to be […]
Eli said, “Jay Boy, you are looking kind of hobo.” Eli and I were standing on Haight Street outside a grungy store called “Robot Speak”. Robot Speak specialized in equipment for electronic music. “Hobo? You are calling me hobo” “Hobo.” “Why so?” “Well, you have got the sandals that aren’t really sandals they are just […]
My cousin is visiting. I should have done a better job of planning for dinner but she has comprehensive food allergies and I am lazy and so it is Saturday afternoon and we want to go to dinner that night and I have not made a reservation. I am feeling pretty guilty already and that […]
When I moved to San Francisco, I decided to stop wearing a watch. I had worn a watch for 40 years but why did I need a watch? People in San Francisco don’t wear watches. I carried an iPhone wherever I went. I didn’t need a watch to tell the time. I would just look […]
I have written short stories for most of my life but only recently decided to see if I could publish some of my words. I had moved to San Francisco and everyone I met told me that I had to get my brand out there. I couldn’t just wait to be discovered. I had to […]
My first book, Nine Digits, is a comic novel for young adults. Nine Digits tells the story of a dysfunctional family chosen to compete on a reality TV show in which the winner will receive a prize of $100 million. The show’s producer shamelessly manipulates and humiliates the contestants in pursuit of higher ratings and […]
Imagined conversations, daily. Stories on Sunday.
Imagined conversations, daily. Stories on Sunday. See the entire collection here.
They were gathered around the fire on the beach after the sunset had come and gone. They were in beach chairs and pressed up against the fire for warmth in the New England evening. The flames lit their faces and the underside of the bills of the baseball caps they were all wearing. Suddenly there […]