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Author Archives: Doctor Quack
Music and Mystery
Through a series of tentative agreements, passive comments, whimsies, and guilt, I have come to find myself playing second chair oboe for our local community college symphony orchestra. I am not an oboist. Or rather, I am no longer an … Continue reading
Posted in Art Music and Literature
Tagged composition, magic, music, mystique, oboe, Orchestra, Symphony, Tchaikovsky
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Everything is the Same and Everything is Different
I’ll try not to pretend to know more about bipolarity than I do, which is admittedly very little. Despite it being everyone’s favorite self-diagnosis, I think I’ve only been privy to two individuals who could be considered clinically bipolar, and … Continue reading
Posted in Editorial
Tagged bipolar, cognitive behavioral therapy, disillusionment, manic-depression, perception, Psychology, therapy
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The Things You Take
Two weeks and one day ago, my girlfriend and I drove up to Whiskeytown Lake, a picturesque reservoir nestled in the outskirts of California’s Klamath Mountains, to look at the blazing flames and swirling smoke of a remote wildfire towering … Continue reading
Posted in Autobiography, Nonsense
Tagged Carr Fire, childhood, evacuation, family, love, materialism, Redding, sentimental value, Tubbs Fire, Whiskeytown, wildfire
2 Comments
Loose Thread
In my earlier years, I would have considered myself a thinker, as I’m sure most other young people do coming into this world. I was intrigued by abstractions and insight, and, assuming I had a thing or two to share, … Continue reading
Justice of Desire
Several months ago, a student of mine fell in love, as teenagers are apt to do every so often. He thought he was doing everything right: writing songs for her, learning to play the ukulele for her, buying her stuff, … Continue reading
Three Minutes as a Woman
When I moved to my current rustic, foothill town for work back in June, I had no friends and no family, so I did what any sensible twentysomething would do and joined a social dance group. West Coast Swing on … Continue reading
Posted in Editorial
Tagged dance, gender roles, intimacy, masculinity, social dance, swing, swing dance, traditional gender roles, west coast swing
3 Comments
Teacher Gibberish
I underestimated how bizarre of a profession teaching would be. Prior to this year, even though teaching was a consideration of mine since I was in high school, I was always mildly annoyed by how much teachers lamented being teachers, … Continue reading
Posted in Editorial
Tagged education, music teacher, school, social work, teachers, teaching, teenagers
1 Comment
Moments with Trees
As I sat on my porch this evening watching a rare torrential downpour fall on my town, I momentarily connected with the oak tree twenty feet in front of me, standing majestically over the manicured yard, surely too enjoying the rain. Hello, … Continue reading
Posted in Editorial, Nonsense
Tagged alienation, Indifference, musings, philosophy, trees
4 Comments
Blind Men in a Dog World
If dogs had national parks, they would be for scents, not sights. They would be everywhere, ever-changing and often fleeting monuments to all the world’s odors. The dog-president and dog-congress would upgrade every being, living or dead, to national park status, … Continue reading
Confessions of a Music Student-Teacher
Last Thursday night, on a high school stage in the outskirts of a Wine Country town, I cried. In front of eighty students and dozens of parents and faculty, I lost my composure and broke down. It was the first time I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Editorial
Tagged education, high school, music, music teacher, school, student teaching, teacher, teaching, teaching music
6 Comments