Author Archives: A garrett renter on Welbeck St.

Here’s the thing we always forget about illness: it’s boring, and it’s tedious. The dread of it, no so much. That involves a lot of cortisol, and ultimately (if it goes on too long) the kind of numbing hangover that comes with too much stimulation. But the thing itself? Boring as all hell. And asContinue reading “Day 2 of Isolation”

I hope she has joy in it.

A friend from college — no, that’s not right. A friend who went to the same university as I did, and with whom I became friends later, recently sent me a podcast. As one does. “One” here meaning “not me” because I would never send someone a podcast. I’d lend them a book, sure. ButContinue reading “Writing and booze”

I used to go two-stepping, back when I lived in Boston. I loved it while I did it, and remember fondly the evenings I so spent. My pleasure in that activity was contingent upon several premises, perhaps least among them the fact that the activity was explicitly and deliberately tobacco and alcohol-free (the organizers includedContinue reading “Problematizing Pleasure”

I was chatting with a colleague of mine at work. Someone who would probably in other circumstances even be a friend. But the exigencies of bureaucracy being what they are, this isn’t really the done thing. In any case, we were chatting about our sense of vocation. He has, for a variety of reasons, hadContinue reading “The curse of a liberal arts education, part 2”

When I write the novel in my head, the novel of bureaucracy, the roman a clef that will stand as the lighthouse to which I always will turn while I contemplate the extent of my ambition, the text that will serve as the key to all mythologies, I find myself recalling a certain passage inContinue reading “The curse of a liberal arts education”

I hate Zoom. I hate WebEx. I hate Teams. I hate them all. I hate it when people don’t turn their camera on. I hate it when people do turn their camera on. I hate it when people forget to unmute themselves. I hate it when people forget to mute themselves. I hate it whenContinue reading “I hate video conferencing”

I’m not the first person to say this, nor will I be the last. Are we there yet? The end of the pandemic? The end of all this stress and fuckery? No? Well what about now? Are we there yet now? No? Well phooey. On a different note: you know what’s depressing? Looking for thingsContinue reading “Are we there yet?”

I intended to attend a memorial service, by Zoom, today. I failed to enact, or fulfill, my intention. I could blame external circumstances (my boss, who sent me an e-mail at 4:30). I could blame internal circumstances (if given the opportunity, I’d rather key entry data than have a conversation with my boss). I couldContinue reading “I missed a funeral today”

The phrase is, the darkest hour is before dawn. Is that this hour? The phrase admits of at least two meanings, depending on how one emphasizes the balance of the sentence: the subject (“darkest hour”) or the predicate (“before dawn”). Which half should one emphasize at this precise moment? Darkness, or dawn? When I watchContinue reading “How dark this time is”