Why It Matters

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  • Notes From A Public Reading

    Savannah College of Art and Design, 1987:  My final project for drawing class is four feet by ten feet on board, a beast of a thing.  I get to class very early so that I can haul this monster through empty hallways.  I prop it up in the front of the classroom and take a…

  • Since I’m On the Topic of Rush…

    I’m not a current events kind of guy, but when the pop culture gods align a press release with a “Why It Matters” piece who am I to refuse? Rush has a new label deal and a couple of new albums on the way, one a live album from the recent “Time Machine” tour (photos…

  • 42. Changes Aren’t Permanent (But Change Is)

    Ninth grade was a very strange time.  I was a member of The Guys In Black Tee Shirts Who Jam, but I wasn’t hardcore enough for Prevo, or prevocational school.  I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons thanks to my thirty year old yard work boss and most recent father figure, not to mention the AD&D…

  • More Answers To Google Searches

    Googlers are to Why It Matters as Sunday drivers are to garage sales.   Both are cruising along hoping to find an Eames chair or a lightly used Hitachi magic wand or whatever.  They think they catch a glimpse from the street, so they park and approach.  Inevitably they are disappointed when they see the pile of crap they…

  • 41. We Rock At Dawn On the Front Line

    I didn’t ride my bicycle to school everyday.  If Melody had something to do after school or I was running late I took the bus.  The characters had changed since I was a regular rider in middle school:  No more Creepy Daryl trying to get into my pants; no more Mike and his buddies tormenting…

  • The Basic Why It Matters Restaurant Desktop

    Required: One (1) Notebook Two (2) Beverages Three (3) Uniball Pens Unrelated reading material Sketchbook (in bag) 160gb iPod Optional: Ideas Motivation Dessert

  • “Why It Matters” Meets Under the Gum Tree

    I’m delighted to announce that one of my “Why It Matters” pieces has been published in the premier edition of Under the Gum Tree, a literary magazine dedicated to creative non-fiction.  It’s a great magazine and is available as a free download.  Don’t forget to tell them James sent you:  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/223881 And for you fellow…

  • Deep Cuts: Stop Time and Turn Up the Radio Songs

    I have 33,000 songs in my pocket.  I can go for three months, twenty-four hours per day and not listen to the same song twice; well, at least not the same version.  Or if I choose to I can listen to the same song repeatedly.  It’s a world of abundance —  not just abundance, but…

  • 40. To Learn How To Love And Forget How To Hate

    During the summer after eighth grade we spent a week at Disney World in Florida.  My father bought some sort of package deal that included a campsite, park tickets, and three meals per day at any restaurant on the Disney property.  I wasn’t too keen on living in a pop-up camper for seven days, but…

  • Warrant’s Lead Singer Dies

    I lived within walking distance of the famous Sunset Strip at the tail end of the Hair Metal Eighties.  This should have been a huge thrill for me, but I wasn’t a hair metal guy.  The Whisky A Go-Go was hallowed ground in my book — home of The Doors, X, and proto-hair metal gods…