(and even some book reviews)
I’m Dying Here
12-minute read In my mid-thirties I once got cruelly nauseous in the middle of the night. Kidney stones, it turned out, no bigger than bee stingers. This was a Sunday during the summer. I remember it was a summer Sunday because I was in a men’s summer baseball league that played its games only on…
Mr. Porky Sunshine
Image credit/Scott Wong “All the fat is the Lord’s.” –Leviticus 3:16 We parked our van at a trailhead on one side of a very busy road, which many here consider the local Autobahn for gamblers and gravel trucks. Crossing it, even with traffic stopped, takes nerve, and it’s not a place for people who hate…
My Naïve Melody
“Love me ’til my heart stops. Love me ’til I’m dead.” –David Byrne The day before I saw my doctor for a biennial DMV physical, my thirteen-year-old son announced his intent to go vegan, and a friend of mine from high school died of Covid. There’s a lot to unpack here. First, the 800-lb. gorilla…
The axe for the frozen sea…
Kafka said that a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Chuck Radke’s stirring, at times heartbreaking memoir, Stuccoville: Life Without a Net, is such an axe. When I finished reading, I was in tears. I wanted to stand up and cheer the author’s unflinching honesty and filial devotion. Weeks later,…
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About Me
I am a writer and full-time staff member at Fresno State. I run the Dissertation/Thesis Office at the university, and I founded the Fresno State Graduate Writing Studio. My full-length memoir, Stuccoville: Life Without a Net, launched in January, 2021, from E.L. Marker/WiDo Publishing. View more posts
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Charles Lewis Radke 