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Our Amish Neighbor was a Browns’ Fan

by Shawn May 2, 2012

Today I’m guest posting over at TV Asylum about how our Amish neighbor used to come watch TV with us. Here’s a little preview for you: Monday Night Football. My dad and I chilling out on the sofa with a bag of Doritoes. I was nine years old, and in 1986 it didn’t get much [...]

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5 1/2 Questions With Killer Tribes’ Bryan Allain: An Exclusive Look Inside His Soul

by Shawn May 1, 2012

After the Killer Tribes conference I sent Bryan Allain a list of questions about the conference he organized and successfully pulled off in Nashville, TN. He was kind enough to agree to this semi (not really) exclusive interview, in which many of his deepest, darkest secrets are brought to light. If you were at the [...]

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The Hitchhiker in Arizona, and a Place Where Anything Could Happen

by Shawn April 30, 2012
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I meandered up to the small food shack. It was nothing more than a metal concession trailer with a plywood room somehow fastened alongside. Inside, a makeshift counter ran along the walls. Country music scratched out from an old portable radio. I had never expected Arizona to be so cold in April, but a cool [...]

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Getting Lost in New Mexico and Finding the Grand Canyon: A Journey in Photos

by Shawn April 29, 2012

             

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Rock Bottom, or Experiencing God While Emptying the Bus’s Waste Tank

by Shawn April 27, 2012

I suppose everyone has a particular way of dealing with rock bottom. Some folks eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s “Chocolate Therapy.” Others watch 6 seasons of Lost, 10 episodes at a shot for a week or two, just to escape. For me? I always know when I’ve hit rock bottom because I go [...]

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A Prison Poet, and One Author’s Message to the Publisher that Rejected Him

by Shawn April 26, 2012

Thursday’s lineup of eye-popping articles and literary brain candy: Dickens and Tolkien Collaborate? (via Poets and Writers) The Prisoner Poet (via Poets and Writers) Letters of Note (via Jason Boyett) In 1975, Norman Maclean‘s book, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, was rejected by publishers Alfred A. Knopf after initially being green-lit — thankfully, it [...]

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From Tulsa to Amarillo: Large Gashes and Pools of Blood

by Shawn April 25, 2012

Driving west from Tulsa to Amarillo on a bright afternoon, you can measure the passing of time by the distance the sun travels down the bus’s massive windshield. Every hour or so I pull on the string that lowers the screen that shades my eyes from the glare. By about 7:00 pm, the screen is [...]

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