Care for a game of Rummikub?
It is with a heavy heart that I write of the passing of one of my dearest friends, some would call us family: Ralph Edwards.
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Archive for the ‘Autobiography’ Category
Ralph Edwards – One Helluva Good Cat: (2005 – 2021)
December 3rd, 2021 by Corey A. Edwards
Cat in a Store Window
February 3rd, 2014 by Corey A. Edwards
What do you do when you see a cat? Let’s say a cat in a store window peering out at you, for example? Well, I dunno about you but, when I see a cat, my first urge is usually to go and try and interact with it, the polar opposite of my typical reaction at seeing another person.
So, now that I’ve outed myself as one of *those* people …
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Jaywalking In Charleston
January 19th, 2014 by Corey A. Edwards
This collection of vignettes, observances, and rants accumulated over a four day period in Charleston, South Carolina where I was employed as a vendor at a trade show.
I don’t travel much. This is my first trip in that direction: approximately six hours in the air, southeast with a connection in Atlanta. It’s the farthest south I’ve been on the east coast, maybe on the continent.
Anyway: stuck on a plane, stuck in a hotel room, stuck in a booth, and stuck in my head, the urge to document and rant came. Short of screaming to the heavens, I felt the need to express myself, so into my phone and computer the impressions and observances went – mostly as they happened or shortly thereafter.
Now, with only the slightest of apologies, I present them to you.
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A Flood of Memories – Part 3 of 3
The Big Thompson Flood of 1976
September 9th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
The present “view” at Big Dam (circa 2010)
(continued from: A Flood of Memories – Part 2 The Big Thompson Flood of 1976)
The river changed for me after the flood and, to this day, it is not the one I remember from my early childhood. The river we ice-skated on in the winter and that I caught my first fish from, on a piece of black thread with a rusty, found hook is long gone. A hazy but persistent memory that continues to define a very distinct and distant period of my life.
Floods update the shape and course of the rivers they spring from. The rushing water carves new beds from old banks, uproots foliage, rolls boulders, and deposits new layers of mud and sand where before, perhaps, there was none. Floods remove old landmarks and create new ones. Floods destroy human built landmarks and redefine how and where it is wise to place them.
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A Flood of Memories – Part 2 of 3
The Big Thompson Flood of 1976
September 2nd, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
A car peeping out from its impromptu grave – Ernie Leyba/Denver Post File
(continued from: A Flood of Memories – Part 1 The Big Thompson Flood of 1976)
The next day dawned and, from my perspective, nothing was different – but it was.
We had no power and there was a queer smell in the air, a smell of mud and propane. After being told of the evening’s events, my mom allowed my brother and I to walk down to the corner above the falls with the stern admonishment to avoid the edge of the washed out road. We were to go no further than the falls.
Later that day we learned why my mom had been so adamant that we explore no more than what we could see from the road: two of of our neighbors had investigated the scene below the falls already that morning and had reported finding, among other things, a nude woman asleep in the silt.
Except, of course, she wasn’t asleep.
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A Flood of Memories – Part 1 of 3
The Big Thompson Flood of 1976
August 26th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
Big Dam Falls at Chasteen’s Grove
In the summer of 1976, when I was 7 years old, the river I lived near – The Big Thompson – suffered a flash flood of unheard of proportions. 143 people lost their lives in the rushing waters, five of whom were never found. My family, though living in the affected area, suffered little but inconvenience and shock as the human world around us reeled from one of nature’s little hiccups.
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Doin’ the Dog –
Taking the bus to 1970’s California
July 1st, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
It must have been the summer of 1974 or so, I would have been five or six. My maternal grandparents hadn’t seen me since I was a baby, so my mom decided it would be a good time for a visit. We didn’t have a lot of money, though, so it would just be mom and I making the trip, my father and older brother would stay home. As a further expression of our finances, mom and I wouldn’t be flying from Northern Colorado to Southern California but busing.
Being wee, I knew none of the reasons behind why we were going. All I knew was, I was going on a big trip for the first time and I couldn’t wait.
You know you’re young when the prospect of taking a bus from Northern Colorado to Los Angeles with your mom sounds like an exciting adventure.
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Mined Over Matter
June 24th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
“What happens when you send an atheist to interview a faith healer? You tell me – I can’t watch.”
The house bearing the address I was given is a drab, neglected ranch, the yard littered with assorted dingy vehicles, tarp draped filing cabinets, and abandoned appliances in various states of repair. It is the kind of yard from which vicious dogs leap, not the manicured, peaceful zen garden of a new-age professional.
I exit my vehicle tentative with caution.
What the hell am I doing here? I hate this kind of thing; meeting new people is bad enough but interviewing them for an article in a spiritual newsletter is even worse. When I took the job as webmaster for the local, new-age bookstore, I never intended to have to pay this much lip service to the dizzying array of beliefs that are the store’s bread and butter. I’m a total skeptic, an unrepentant atheist, yet here I am, about to interview what amounts to a new-age faith healer.
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Why I Quit Facebook
(for less than a month)
June 17th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
Lost and Foundry – Pt. 2
I, Patineur
May 27th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
(Part 1 of “Lost and Foundry” can be found here)
The longer I worked at the foundry, the farther I rose up in ranks – whether I wanted to or not – and it wasn’t just because of my abilities.
First there was the appointment to head of Monument Sprue, a change that mainly involved me going to lots of pointless meetings and wandering around the foundry with a clipboard, talking to friends – not because it was part of the job but because the position and clipboard gave me the excuse and camouflage to do so. Then they allowed me to move to patina and, in short order, made me head of that department.
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Lost and Foundry – Pt. 1
All Sprued Up
May 20th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
In the mid 90’s I found myself in a very precarious position: the husband in a married team of new parents, unexpectedly locked out of their business by their silent partners for suspicion of embezzlement.
While this presents a story all on its own, suffice it to say that our business partner’s accusations were eventually discovered to be unfounded (the butler did it) but the damage was done and, in the meantime, I needed work!
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“for after the divorce”
May 6th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
Poking about my “writings” folder, I discovered this piece entitled “for after the divorce,” written circa 2006. Intrigued I read it and was stunned by both its honesty and darkness. I knew I wanted to share it but I wasn’t sure why and so I mothballed it again until I understood the urge. There are some uncomfortable moments here and so much has changed in my life – all for the better! – why dredge up the clotted ichor of the past?
I eventually realized that the urge to share it had to do with the realization that we are so often capable of pulling ourselves out of the deepest and darkest places. Very shortly after this was written – a few months or more – I started that elusive career and, though my marriage did fall apart and even harder times were to come, it was an adventure that has led me to the amazing place I am now.
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When I was your age the TV went:
“Raaaaaaatch! Ka-tchk-tchk-tchk-tchk!”
March 18th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
I recently saw a t-shirt (online, of course) that read: “When I was your age the internet went “Skawee Reweert!” I laughed out loud … and still find it odd that I must clarify that by adding: no, really.
But I can go one better: when I was your age the TV went “Raaaaaaatch! Ka-tchk-tchk-tchk-tchk!”
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Shandeh and Ibuprofen
February 18th, 2013 by Corey A. Edwards
A and D Ointment
December 29th, 2012 by Corey A. Edwards
The Cruel Death of Jerry Guilder’s Lunch
August 4th, 2012 by Corey A. Edwards
Tight Seating, Spilled Ink, and the Draco Reptilians
November 8th, 2011 by Corey A. Edwards
The bus home is crowded, even though I arrived with many minutes to spare. It is so crowded, I have to take one of the less comfortable seats up front but that’s okay because a cute, young woman arrives thereafter and has little choice but to take the space next to me.
What fun!
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Overheard Onna Bus …
June 27th, 2011 by Corey A. Edwards
Racist
June 25th, 2011 by Corey A. Edwards
“Are you a racist?”
The question comes from the back of the bus. It is not inflected in the way you might expect: no anger, no indignation, no shock; just a loud, open question that hangs in the air like a heavy curtain pulled between those of us in earshot and our lives of careful make-believe.
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Pressed for Words
June 17th, 2011 by Corey A. Edwards
Just a quick notice that I am in the process of moving from the Google Blogger platform to a WordPress blog integrated with my website, www.coreyshead.com.
The blog is still called “Brother, I Can See Your Skull.” and, once everything is fully migrated, I will be shutting down the Blogger version of the blog for good.
You’d think I would’ve done something like this a bit this sooner but I only just recently got off my ass long enough to move to a server that can handle the requirements of PHP and MySQL.
Other than the new features of categories and tags, it should be a very similar experience and I can assure you the same level of quality and attentiveness with which I have attended this space … *cough*
Hotcha.
