Joel’s Improved Personal Website

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Stories of myself and others, along with frequent literary allusions, invocations of evocative sensations, and reports of the weather, are told with a comprehensive vocabulary and a slight but all-too-unpolished Minnesotan accent.

Roots and Genesis: Radio address for May 12, 2012, about our Original Garden, which doesn’t look like very much compared to the way we imagined it. Tie-ins to Mother’s Day are subtle, if even at all extant.
(Sat May 12, 2012)
You Do Not Know What a Bird Is: Radio address for April 28, 2012, dictated verbatim from the spring wind and rain on the North Shore. Here you will ride in it – next week I will tell you all about it.
(Sat Apr 28, 2012)
The Good Wrong: Radio address for April 21, 2012, in which our quiet, straightforward life keeps me humble by being too much to keep up with, and I hope it will always be that way.
(Sat Apr 21, 2012)
The Room You Are In Now: Radio address for April 14, 2012: A reading from the first two headings of my Red Book, about Existence and Inexistence, the first two stops on a journey of exactly one thousand steps.
(Sat Apr 14, 2012)
Bees in the Air: Trixie and I make plans to fly or drive all over the continent in every direction, and groundwork for the suburban apiary is contemplated.
(Sat Apr 7, 2012)
The Smell of the Tea in the Rain: City hall springs to life in a flurry of self-cancelling paperwork, and we listen to the north shore of Lake Superior call us while we brew tea on the porch.
(Sat Mar 31, 2012)
Dirt and Leaf: After the sudden and early thaw, thoughts turn to yard maintenance which does not necessarily include scouring away every trace of unnatural untidiness.
(Sat Mar 24, 2012)
A Wolf and a Wish: Radio address for Feb 21, 2012, which you will have to listen to for yourself.
(Wed Feb 22, 2012)
Veins of Grey and Gold: An afternoon spent in the basement, a morning spent in the Basilica.
(Tue Feb 7, 2012)
Sun Will Set Again: Why were the Dark Ages called the Dark Ages? You might say it was because people were ignorant about a lot of important things; but people today are ignorant about a lot of important things as well. Maybe it is more likely it was dark because everyone was suddenly more isolated.
(Tue Jan 24, 2012)
Eggplant Suede Chairs: Radio address for June 6: Maybe if you’re denied a pile of money, you’re better able to think outside the box and focus on what matters. But who wants to be denied a pile of money. I ask you.
(Mon Jun 6, 2011)
The King and the Jester: Radio address for February 18, 2011: some things not many people seem to know about Niagara Falls.
(Mon Feb 21, 2011)
The Summons: What if I am among those that winter separates unto Pluto rather than to Jupiter this year? The summons was to the Clearing at midnight, and I had always dreaded it.
(Tue Dec 14, 2010)
The Settler: Radio address for December 8, 2010, a poem I wrote this last Sunday.
(Wed Dec 8, 2010)
Four Front Pockets With Snaps: Radio address for December 1, 2010. It is extremely cold and snowy here now. These are just a few glimpses of surviving and micro-thriving in the middle of winter.
(Wed Dec 1, 2010)
The Windhover: Radio address for October 14, 2010, released a few days late. Have you ever been pathetically but persistently pursued?
(Sun Oct 17, 2010)
Tuesday Kindle Drawing / Fundraiser: I had this idea yesterday and decided to just try it.
(Tue Oct 5, 2010)
Orange Chocolate: The words ‘orange chocolate’ conjure a mottled, raggled raft of feelings – feelings about things that ought to be simple but ended up being, for a long time, gnarly.
(Tue Aug 17, 2010)
The Exceptional Causes of My Absence: Written mainly so listeners will have a dim idea of what keeps me away in town these days.
(Tue Aug 10, 2010)
We Will Haunt and Hunt Our Own Creations: When we write the story, we sit in the seat of God, and our understanding of God betrays itself too well.
(Thu Jul 29, 2010)
The Tape of Nature's Anomalies: Radio address for March 27, 2010: a weather report of sorts. Nature always skips skips skips the beat.
(Sat Mar 27, 2010)
Thinking in Ribbons and Smudges: Radio address for February 17, 2010, guest-starring my Smith-Corona Super Sterling (not, as it might sound, a gun, but a typewriter). The excerpt at the end is from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, Book I, ch. XV.
(Wed Feb 17, 2010)
The Voice of the Bard: Some things are hidden from your senses until you say “yes.”
(Sun Feb 7, 2010)
A Hand Up on Deck: How far apart we are when we start; how good it really is to come on board!
(Sat Jan 30, 2010)
A Kind of Runic Rhythm: Hammer-swinging and lumber-fumbling are happily put on hold due to fresh snow. I form a new exclusive association based on a silly battle cry. Notion-planting is examined, and ending notes are struck on a bell, the moon, and a star.
(Mon Mar 2, 2009)
The Bee-Loud Glade: What kind of honey is this, anyway?
(Tue Feb 10, 2009)
The Month after Midnight: An impression of January that is fine, lasting, and hard to convey; some poetry; and a small dose of tired but devoted thought.
(Sat Feb 7, 2009)
We'll Dance And We'll Sing Love: In which ever-rarer and older Christmas songs are sampled like fine cheeses.
(Fri Dec 12, 2008)
Happy Thanksgiving: Radio address for Thanksgiving Day, 2008. The bulk of today’s address comes from Charles Laughton – a part of a 1960s recording that MPR broadcasts every year on Thanksgiving.
(Thu Nov 27, 2008)
Intermission to Follow: Radio address for November 20, 2008, which I saved out of the wastebasket and the cutting floor.
(Thu Nov 20, 2008)
An Older Flavour, Preserved in Isolation: Radio address for November 12, 2008, involving Thermoclines, the Odd Days, and working in the dirt and the dark. Ironically, as soon as I had finished recording, I had to go out and get Dave, who’d broken down on the side of the road. We spent an hour and a half out in the dark, waiting for the tow truck, watching the snow fall, and listening to CBC radio.
(Wed Nov 12, 2008)
The Smoke Makes You Think You're Alone: Radio address for November 2, 2008. I opened Pandora’s box the week before all these ghastly holidays, and let out a swarm of dark visions.
(Sun Nov 2, 2008)
Snowing at the Mast: Regarding emotions-as-colors, and the coming of snow – and all that that implies. Relish the risk.
(Wed Oct 29, 2008)
Clear His Table of Its Clutter: Radio address for October 21, 2008, on the number 23, building a house, and some lines from an old biography.
(Tue Oct 21, 2008)
A Feast in the Woods: Radio address for October 14, 2008, involving primarily Leaves and Squirrels.
(Tue Oct 14, 2008)
A Very Mild Solution: Radio address for October 8, 2008, involving overheard radio snippets, a spot of philosophy, and Snoo’s newfound athleticism.
(Wed Oct 8, 2008)
A Walk in the Dark: Involving an evening walk, the two kinds of Qualms, family aliases and the value of fashion even in total darkness.
(Sat Oct 4, 2008)
Fall in your Heels: Back from summer break! Bear with me as I reminisce, complain just a little, and talk breifly about Saxon racism.
(Wed Oct 1, 2008)
An easy style but not flowing: Bringing you up to speed on beards, racoons, the house project, and my first insurance physical.
(Fri Jun 27, 2008)
Still Going: I contemplated a summer hiatus. Thoughts on Christ’s perspective. My little sister has easy solutions for hard problems.
(Wed Feb 27, 2008)
Big Faces: I saw a billboard on the way into work. Realtors don’t seem real in pictures, and insurance agents are downright scary.
(Sun Feb 17, 2008)
Brain Food: I read a book over dinner that was absolutely better than nothing at all.
(Thu Feb 14, 2008)
Interestingness: Your life is interesting. And photogenic.
(Sun Feb 10, 2008)
February 6, 2008: I went to the caucus on Tuesday to be a cog.
(Thu Feb 7, 2008)
February 4, 2008: Today at the coffee shop, I had a short thought about coffee shops.
(Mon Feb 4, 2008)
February 2, 2008: I found some pictures while dusting.
(Sat Feb 2, 2008)
January 31, 2008: Our house’s plumbing is interesting, inscrutable, and a little dangerous.
(Fri Feb 1, 2008)
January 29, 2008: Two predictions of summer trends that somehow feel plausible.
(Wed Jan 30, 2008)
January 28, 2008: It warmed up by 40 degrees and started raining. Cities can be so inhuman.
(Tue Jan 29, 2008)
January 26, 2008: I somehow have energy to stay on top of stuff. Advice to people who work at places that defy reason.
(Sun Jan 27, 2008)
January 24, 2008: I finally have my hair cut by paid amateurs. Karen is my most recent Liberian acquaintance. Why does everyone have to live so far away?
(Thu Jan 24, 2008)
January 21, 2008: We went skiing in Duluth. Listening to the radio at night in the car.
(Mon Jan 21, 2008)
January 19, 2008: It is OK to write LOL if it is done judiciously. Cold air from Canada claims our souls.
(Sat Jan 19, 2008)
January 17, 2008: How the weather affects movie rental patterns. Van break-down. Grace plays a jingle. What does it mean to be a man?
(Fri Jan 18, 2008)
January 16, 2008: January is like three o’clock in the morning. We played some hockey today.
(Wed Jan 16, 2008)
January 15, 2008: Preparing for St. Patrick’s Day.
(Tue Jan 15, 2008)
January 14, 2008: First Address. Cold and clear. Heard about my house.
(Mon Jan 14, 2008)
Merry Christmas: Please to see the King.
(Wed Dec 19, 2007)