Bad Tape
My car had been stolen in October 2022, and after the police recovered it, a lot of stuff belonging to the thief remained inside, including a mysterious VHS tape.
Call if You’re Feeling Lonely
When I lived in New York after college, I suffered from depression and insomnia. So I volunteered for a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline
I went to Las Vegas for my MFA and ended up a gambler
There is a certain writerly allure to casino gambling that I find difficult to resist — or perhaps I should call it a not writing allure.
Stopped and Frisked
I now had my hands up against a wall in a Downtown alley while a Metro officer patted me down for weapons. I’d complied because I wanted to calm what felt like an oddly hostile situation. Thiele said, “Spread your legs, and put your hands behind your back like you’re praying.” So I did as told.
Trash Art
My neighbor got evicted. That or he skipped town. A work crew had been emptying the house for three days, throwing everything into a trailer-sized dumpster, and when I asked what happened, they just said, “It’s a mess in there.” The guy was a hoarder, apparently. One worker came out carrying a large painting. It had black, yellow, and brown L-shapes overlaid like a pile of boomerangs. I like abstract art, so I asked, “What are you doing with the painting?”
Vegas Grace
A graphic essay for the Image Comics anthology Where We Live: A Benefit for the Survivors in Las Vegas.
A New Theory on "Mark Twain"
IN THE 150 YEARS Samuel Clemens has been better known as Mark Twain, journalists, scholars, and even bartenders have offered competing theories as to where America’s first signature wit acquired his nom de plume. According to Twain, his pen name once belonged to a Mississippi riverboat captain, and he merely “laid violent hands upon it.” Newspapers at the time however claimed he earned his alias drinking at a one-bit saloon in Virginia City, Nevada. Both stories fit the author’s roguish persona. Both recall his bio. But neither has stood up to scholarly investigation, and the truth has been elusive until perhaps now.