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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Ten Reasons Why Literature Is Better Than Music
1. Formats It is very easy to sit back and open up an old paperback or a hardcover book and enjoy it. It is not so easy to do the same with old technology. It demands constant updating. To wear an old orange-foam headset plugged into an original tape-only Sony Walkman and expect to be treated fairly in a world of iPods and various other shrunken portable devices is a sad dream. The humiliation of not being up to date with your technology is immediate and palpable.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
A Trip to California
I felt it when we crossed the border. That sounds ridiculous, but I did feel something when we crossed the Peace Bridge into New York. It may have been the heat or the thrill of being in a strange vehicle on a road trip to a place I did not know, but I remember a sensation of pressure in my head and on my body, like I was changing atmospheres. I know now that this was also a sensation of fear. What would the trip in this van, with at least four people I did not know, involve? Would we be safe in America (a concern that would be a real problem for me in California, as I will explain eventually)? Did they have the food I liked to eat, the TV shows I liked to watch? I only half understood my own feelings at the time.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Wander
A Trip to California
Note: these entries originally appeared on a blog that I had many years ago (it was called In My Head). I have decided to (re)introduce these pieces to the public on this page. Maybe some of you will be amused, shocked, or at least moved by my story.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Wander
Early Morning
Note: This particular poem refers to a very difficult period in my life. I lost my father when I was ten years old - two days before Christmas on the very day when he was to be released - and we returned to the Caribbean to bury him. I thought about those dogs, the heat, and the general oddity of myself as neither a West Indian nor a Canadian during my time there.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Poets
Mask Pretty
I have noticed an interesting phenomenon with our new normal. For those of you who have stubbornly refused to wear a mask once during the last two years of Covid restrictions, you might have missed out something that began to notice at least one year into things. So, your loss...and maybe my gain?
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
The End of an Error
It has been some time since I have written here. I look back at my ninety-plus stories here and wonder what it all will lead to; how far I can go with these ideas and basic brain droppings. There are other pages I contribute to, and I have other responsibilities and ideas in front of me. But I cannot ignore something that has happened recently at my place of work. I cannot just sit here and head into another weekend with papers to mark, laundry to clean and my general routine when I have free time.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
Rules for Media Students
I have been teaching at a college in my adopted hometown of Montréal for many years now, and one of my courses is a media class that was developed for them in English. I have taught this particular course for over a decade now, and one of the things that I have discovered is that my students are quite conservative. This is not to say that there has been no talent in my classes. It means that I have had to shock them out of their complacency about what work in the film business will be like and what types of jobs are available out there.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Education
J.
Note: This story was one that I completed as an undergraduate. The rule was we had to take one line from two separate books and use them at the beginning and at the end of the story (that may explain the strange quotations included in this piece - I do not remember the names of the books used).
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Fiction
Supellectilem Cladis!
As of 5:15 AM this morning, I have stopped being a consumer of flatpack products from that Swedish company. I did not expect to have such a dramatic epiphany, but I realize now that I should have seen the signs earlier. And when you hear my story, you will understand my decision.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
