My Cardboard Balcony

Retail gives people opportunities that you wouldn't expect. For me, it's connections. My first week of work, I met a Zen poet named Tai Sheridan while ringing up some headphones and other accessories for him. We started chatting about writing and he told me to contact him. He's done some crazy work in the past two years - nine novels of translated Buddhist text that's been converted into poetry. So I figured that since he was kind enough to forge a connection, I could tell you guys to check out his work. Check out the links section of my blog for his website, and he also has a blog you can follow. The great thing about retail is (most of) the people as well. You are always going to meet interesting folk. The poets, the thespians, the businesspeople. There are stories to be found with these people regardless of whether the experience is negative or positive. And that's what I like. That's what allows me to work in retail without having a cynical mindset, becaus...

Untitled by Belinda Roddie Jason picked up the blue model car. One wheel was missing. Curiously, Jason ran his finger across the jagged edge where the wheel had been. It seemed as if it hadn't just been broken off. Actually, it looked like someone had ripped it off the car. He set it down and picked up the red car next to it. One wheel was missing on this one, too. Jason frowned and checked all the model cars. They were all the same, with one wheel missing. Puzzled, we stepped up to the counter where the clerk was counting dimes in his palm. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "but I noticed that all of your model cars have been broken." The clerk looked up from his counting. He certainly looked exhausted, with a sunken face like a rotten pumpkin. His almond eyes were dull, as were the rest of his features, so bland that if Jason looked from a distance, it looked like all the clerk had was a mouth on his face and nothing else. "Eh? What's that, you sa...

Back in the 90s, the word "radical" was thrown around a lot by generic 90s kids and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I know it means something a lot different. Something more intense and extreme. The radical left wing. The radical right wing. Radical Islam and radical Christianity. And yet the first thing I still think of is nunchuck-wielding Michelangelo eating a pizza.