Kendall Defoe
Bio
Teacher, reader, writer, dreamer... I am a college instructor who cannot stop letting his thoughts end up on the page. No AI. No Fake Work. It's all me...
And I did this:
Stories (833)
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A Letter to My Dad
Dear Dad, It has been almost forty years since you stepped out of my life in the most cliché-ridden manner possible. Not just a bad heart that attacked you; not just on the day that you were to be released from hospital; not just when all the signs were good for you and your health. It was the day itself that stays with me.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Psyche
A Cool Choice.... Top Story - June 2022.
For most of us, summer is a time when we want to relax, settle into a very comfortable deck chair, have a drink, and let the sun and heat allow us to forget how quickly the moment can pass. There are picnics, festivals, barbecues, family gatherings and vacations to be had, and with all of that, we have food to eat. For me, my family’s food and meals were always full of different varieties of colors, flavors, spices and styles. The difficult thing is to try to choose one thing that defined our summer eating. Barbecues would provide a lot of choices straight from the grill; then there was watermelon (not a favourite food, but still quite popular), sorrel (a drink made from the dried plant of the same name, and still not a favourite), ginger beer (pass), homemade candies and cakes and a lot of salad (oh, so much salad). But none of these choices really brings my childhood summers home to me (the only summers that really count). I have to choose something that involves my own family and certain outings to the farm where I participated in gathering this particular choice.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Feast
Real Estate
There weren’t always dragons in the valley, nor were there orcs, hobbits, elves or even wizards. From ages past, the valley of Aulem was a peaceful stretch of land embracing a winding river (Tulem) and a glorious body of water that was only known as the Lake of Aulem. Animals grazed by its banks and deep within the wider plains and bathed freely and without fear of hunters or predators. Seasons came and went, but the beauty of Aulem remained untouched.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Fiction
The Mirror
Dear Mom, This is supposed to be a confession, but it is also to be written in the form of a letter, so there are certain rules that I need to follow. Usually, I begin all of my letters to you discussing my state of mind, and then I fill in the heart of it with what I have done with my life since my last letter (or, more often, phone call). Those messages can get repetitive and dull and I have no interest in repeating myself.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Psyche
No Room for Shakespeare
If you looked at us, you would have to make sure that you looked twice. That would have to be the rule with us. There is so much that you could miss with only one glance; one quick stare without any kind of follow up. And you would regret this.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
The Godfather
This will not be a deep analysis of the history of the film in our culture, or about the current online series “The Offer” (have not seen it yet, except for a few impressive clips online; will handle it one day). This is simply my own feelings about one of the most important films of the last fifty years.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Criminal
Why You Don’t Need to Watch the News
It is soon to be summer again, our third one since the lockdown and arrival of Covid-19, and we all feel the need to relax, stretch and take time off from work and responsibilities if we can. We need to step away from the noise of our lives and consider what is real and what matters.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in FYI
The End of a Semester
I am very grateful for my job. It allows me to make many mistakes with my schedules and course plans, feel dread at the prospect of seeing certain faces in my classes (more than once a week, sometimes), and combat the narrow thoughts of other teachers who make my comments feel like timid dancers in a verbal minefield. These are very rare gifts, and the fact that I am paid for all of these privileges is sugar thrown on honey. A part of me knows that I do not deserve any of it, but I cannot stay away. I need the benefits.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
A Trip to California
There was one thing we did on the road that still surprises me. The white nurse in our van was sitting in the front passenger side and noticed a black hitchhiker. This was in the Midwest and it made me wonder how he ended up in an area where he could have been picked up and jailed as a vagrant. There was some argument about stopping the car for him (not a general vote, but not much support on the nay side). There were six of us, if I consider myself as a potential combatant (Natalie alone could have talked him to death), and that was also on mind. But we still wondered about what would happen for the rest of our trip.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Wander
