Kendall Defoe
Bio
Teacher, reader, writer, dreamer... I am a college instructor who cannot stop letting his thoughts end up on the page.
And I did this: Buy Me A Coffee... And I did this:
Stories (522/0)
A Box of Pencils and a Notebook
I like the idea of having no plan for writing anything when I begin to write. Nothing can stop an idea faster than seeing the whole road ahead (no trip is truly enjoyed with a map and a complete itinerary). There has to be some sense of chance when you feel the urge to create on the page. That is why I have no fear whenever I begin to write.
By Kendall Defoe 3 years ago in Confessions
A Pleasant Day at the Park
Don’t judge us. We’re just birds. Okay, don’t flip out over the fact that I’m talking to you. We just want to make sure that you understand out point of view before you lose all sense of control and start chasing us or throwing things.
By Kendall Defoe 3 years ago in Fiction
For All in Tents and Porpoises
Sweet, he thought. It was a Saturday with all the time in the world and no phone calls or email to process or read through for at least one day. Martin was already in his backyard positioning the Adirondack chair so that it would not be too deep in the sunlight. A tall, cold and sweaty glass of Amstel Light was on the side table with extra bottle chilling in a small cooler by his feet, right next to his favourite summer reading (the New York Times Saturday Crossword Puzzle), a pot of yellow marigolds he managed to grow every year, and his loaded iPod Nano. Not a cloud was visible in the sky and he could not hear a single sound coming from his worst neighbour (seriously, what was the purpose of O’Leary and her stupid schnauzer? Better keep that mutt away from my annuals). It was a perfect day.
By Kendall Defoe 3 years ago in Families
Why Reading Is Good for You
I was shopping in my favourite bookstore - China in a Bull's Shop - when I began to wonder if it was worth my time. I had more than enough books at home that I hadn’t read and likely would not read. What was I doing there? I had to get back to work in about an hour and was distracted by the thought that I had forgotten my discount card. I had also walked to the store on my break with a sandwich and spilled lettuce and tomato all over my clothes. Wiping myself off, I passed between the double scanners, instantly setting off the alarm. After a friendly clerk looked through my knapsack and discovered my DVDs – borrowed, forgotten, and overdue – I noticed a piece of tomato which had somehow affixed itself to my groin. I suppose that was the moment when I felt that it was not worth my time. But I needed to go shopping. After all of those little incidents, I needed to take some time off for myself. A book would work, for the moment.
By Kendall Defoe 3 years ago in Confessions
The Plastic Inevitable
“I love sharks. I adore sharks.” – Matt Hooper It is impossible for me to talk about the natural sea predators we all know and love without referencing that movie. I was a young child when I viewed it in our very dark basement, Quint, Brody and the above Hooper hunting down a Great White Shark that had very serious boundary issues and carried a terrible grudge. If I think about it now, it was also the first movie that I can recall that made me consider the importance of a soundtrack, or at least a theme. John Williams’ score haunts me to this day. As a teacher of media studies, I try to point out to my students the importance of music in the movies they love (Ben Kingsley, at an Academy Awards ceremony, once described music as “the perfume you take with you once you leave the theatre,” and I cannot improve on that). My regret as a child is that I had no idea that I could buy a copy of the film’s soundtrack and use it to terrify my family by playing it at inappropriate times on my cheap turntable (oh, the regrets of youth). But there is something else worth mentioning.
By Kendall Defoe 3 years ago in Confessions