Dave’s Diaries: Life, writing and more

  • A pandemic diary: Greatest hits

    A pandemic diary: Greatest hits

    May 15, 2021 We’re not there yet, still have miles to go before we sleep, but the news that vaccinated people can go without masks in most places is the clearest signal yet that we’re heading toward the finish line. That led me to think about how we got here, all the ups and downs… Read more

  • A pandemic diary: Fiction about reality

    A pandemic diary: Fiction about reality

    May 14, 2021 My new short story, “The Man With the Six-Foot Soul,” is live on the Red Fez. It’s about how the pandemic has battered our sanity, stretching the boundaries of truth and illusion, past and present. The man is a presence in the lives of Emily and Tyler, a young couple struggling to… Read more

  • A pandemic diary: Small, slow steps

    A pandemic diary: Small, slow steps

    May 11, 2021 First actual handshake in fourteen months? Check, and it felt great. Unmasked conversations with other vaccinated people? Check. Go face-naked outdoors? Check. Feel a lot less paranoid about doorknobs, mail, packages, keypads, and waiting-room furniture? Double-check! Toss the hand sanitizer altogether? Nuh-uh, not for me, not just yet. This also goes for… Read more

  • A pandemic diary: My passport

    A pandemic diary: My passport

    April 22, 2021 On sound advice from the experts, I’m not going to show y’all my Covid vaccination card. However, I see no harm in displaying my longstanding personal vaccination passport, ironclad proof that I’ve got the goods. No codes to scan, no factors to verify. Ready? Okay, scroll down a bit. That’s it. Me,… Read more

  • A pandemic diary: Stay away from those boats!

    A pandemic diary: Stay away from those boats!

    April 6, 2021 This can’t be coincidence. Just when we’re rediscovering Ernest Hemingway, who chronicled the Roaring 20s so memorably in “The Sun Also Rises,” along comes a prediction that we’re headed for a post-pandemic blowout that’s already been dubbed the Roaring 2020s. At least we’ll have legal booze, which no one did during Prohibition.… Read more

  • A pandemic diary: Loss and limbo

    A pandemic diary: Loss and limbo

    March 22, 2021 Since I’m older than 65 and fully vaccinated, I’m apparently supposed to be out carousing with my fellow geezers, celebrating my return to a normal life. Instead, I’m worrying over the death of someone I didn’t even know. That person is Kent Taylor (above), founder and CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant… Read more