T.M. Camp
type: channel
description: making it up as I go along
date: 2024-11-05T22:46:52Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: Miasma
items: Samhain
items: Offices
items: Life During Wartime
items: Halloween
items: The Long Year
items: #fyg
items: Summer’s End
items: Grandpa was…
items: Periscope
items: Kensinger Jones
items: “When there is trap set up for you…”
items: Goodbye 2014
items: Context
items: “…and we change with them.”
items: “Come back here and give me my daughter…”
items: So, this kinda made my day…
items: time and tide
items: On Shooter’s Hill…
items: “These are the days it never rains but it pours…”
items: “It sneaks up on you without a warning…”
items: “You know me, I’m your friend…”
items: “We feel lost and we feel found…”
items: Big Pop
items: This is important.

Miasma
type: item
creator: pm@cmt
date: 2024-11-05T19:39:47Z
subject: Latest
description: It’s Election Day here in the U.S. today and I can’t help but wonder if we’ll escape the miasma that […]
encoded: It’s Election Day here in the U.S. today and I can’t help but wonder if we’ll escape the miasma that has plagued us or be swallowed whole by the noxious cloud of our past. I’m honestly not sure what we deserve.

Samhain
type: item
creator: pm@cmt
date: 2024-10-31T16:54:38Z
subject: Latest
encoded: “Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades.” — Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

Offices
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2017-10-22T22:04:02Z
subject: Featured
subject: Latest
subject: Chet
subject: The Trouble with Cats
subject: funeral
subject: pets
subject: court
subject: jury duty
subject: graves
description: This past week I conducted two sacred offices, both equally difficult in their own right. On Thursday, I was the […]
encoded: This past week I conducted two sacred offices, both equally difficult in their own right. On Thursday, I was the foreman in a jury and delivered our verdict to the court. After nine days of witnesses, evidence, argument, and deliberations, we found the defendant guilty on all five counts. It was a criminal case and the charges carried serious penalties. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7840" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics.jpg" alt="" width="1404" height="746" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics.jpg 1404w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics-600x319.jpg 600w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics-300x159.jpg 300w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics-768x408.jpg 768w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ancient-politics-1024x544.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1404px) 100vw, 1404px" /> It was not an easy role to fill, but it was necessary. And then on Friday, I dug a grave. It was hard work, harder than I expected. A few weeks back, it became clear that age had finally caught up with our cat Chet. He was losing weight fast and there were plenty of signs that he was shutting down. Apart from a couple of days where he rallied briefly, Chet just sat and waited. There was a new tension in him that we hadnâ€ t seen before. We knew what was coming. I suspect he might have as well. We had hushed conversations in the kitchen, my wife and I. We started to prepare our seven year old for what was coming. I called the older kids to let them know. And I called the vet, made the appointment. As the trial dragged on, I had to reschedule twice. At night, Iâ€ d sit on the couch and run my fingers gently over Cherâ€ s bony frame and hope that heâ€ d find a was to slip out in his sleep. But, in the en…

Life During Wartime
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2017-10-02T16:57:46Z
subject: News
subject: Tanya Eby
subject: The Red Boy
subject: The Chameleon's Dish
subject: brain cloud
subject: Neil Hellegers
subject: the trouble with a day
description: [Blogging pro-tip: If you wait long enough, your last post becomes relevant again. But regardless, I deserve a good scolding […]
encoded: [Blogging pro-tip: If you wait long enough, your last post becomes relevant again. But regardless, I deserve a good scolding for sure.] Itâ€ s been nearly a year since last I posted, and it hasnâ€ t been particularly good one. In that time Iâ€ ve laid off staff, been laid off myself, applied for hundreds of jobs, and managed to luckily land somewhat on my feet after a limited unemployment. But it was (and continues to be) tough going sometimes. Over these past months, I found myself living under a shadow most days — one that itâ€ s still difficult sometimes to get out from under, even now. One of the perks of my new job means I get to walk to work, which is good for me as Iâ€ m not typically the type that seeks out exercise on a regular basis. This commute takes me through the “Hearthsideâ€ district of downtown. So on a daily basis I get to see people living right on the margins, as well as those who are well past them. It can be a distressing commute some days. But it serves a reminder of how difficult things are for a lot of people in the country, as well as a good reminder of how fortunate I am to have the job, home, and family that Iâ€ ve been given. Meanwhile… <img decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-7788" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cover170x170.jpg" alt="Find Your Gods" width="170" height="170" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cover170x170.jpg 170w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cover170x170-100x100.jpg 100w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cover170x170-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 170px) 100vw, 170px" />On a brighter side… During these intervening months, two projects that were gestating for a long, long time finally got off the ground. The first of these is the Find Your Gods podcast in which I explore the resonance and relevance of ancient myths in modern times. Itâ€ s deeply personal and mildly i…

Halloween
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2016-10-31T16:55:31Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: dreams
subject: Halloween
subject: Summer Salt
subject: haunted house
subject: stories
subject: Ambrose Bierce
description: Just a little something in the spirit of the season… “Summer Salt” by T.M. Camp The aged oak trees […]
encoded: Just a little something in the spirit of the season… “Summer Salt” by T.M. Camp The aged oak trees line each side of the narrow dirt lane. The twisted boughs above me clutch at the flat, pale sky beyond. I walk beneath them without knowing where I came from nor where I am going. All I know is the heat and the slow, dark stain spreading across the right side of my uniform. Flies crawl across the rough wool tacky with blood. Soon the trees clear. I walk on through the dry fields buzzing faintly in the heat towards distant low hills, brown as bread. I do not remember how long I walked. I remember stumbling, clutching at the dull ache between my ribs blooming bright. My cracked boots season the afternoon light with dust, the spice of summer. I did not recognize the faded name stenciled on the battered knapsack I carried, so I left it behind when I rose up from the ground. I did not know my name. I do not remember thinking that this was strange. ___ Later, the slanting light of the setting sun, the rough wood of the gate under my hand. Beyond the gate, a barren yard strewn with rusted farm equipment flaking away, scoured by time and misuse. I remember the house, the woman standing on the sagging porch, shading her eyes. Her voice, from very far away. I remember the sudden shock of fresh blood soaking through my fingers, a taste of iron and dust. A shout, the bang of a door. A man running towards me, his overalls stained with sweat wrung from him by summer and honest labor. I do not remember if he reached me before I fell. ___ I wake in near darkness. A lantern flickers beside me, throwing shadows across the broad beamed roof over my head. A man kneels at my side, older than me and dead of expression. He does not look at my face. Three others stand behind him, watchful — a woman, two men. They all have the same flat eyes, the same bony chin. The kneeling man draws his hand up into the air and then down again. As it dips and rises, thereâ€ s a flare of agony at my side. …

The Long Year
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2016-09-23T19:00:12Z
subject: News
subject: The Red Boy
subject: The Chameleon's Dish
subject: Find Your Gods
subject: Joe vs The Volcano
subject: 2016 Sucks
description: As I write this, the second wave of copies of The Red Boy are shipping out to people who have […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7760" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/trb-cover-197x300.jpg" alt="The Red Boy by T.M. Camp" width="197" height="300" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/trb-cover-197x300.jpg 197w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/trb-cover.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px" />As I write this, the second wave of copies of The Red Boy are shipping out to people who have placed orders. After so long, it is be a relief to see this book going out into the world. For a project that was relatively easy to write and has some of my best writing in it (if I do say so myself), it certainly has been a challenge to get it finished. My friend and designer extraordinaire Kyle Harris deserve a lot of credit for getting it there. It was his outstanding job on the design that finally got it over the finish line. You can order it now, if you like. Otherwise, watch for more announcements in various corners of the web and social media spheres. (Yes, Iâ€ m aware that spheres donâ€ t have corners.) Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I sneakily started a new podcast called Find Your Gods. Iâ€ d been thinking for a while now about a way to re-invent my old Gospel of Thomas show . . . maybe something to do with my writing and this ongoing near-obsession with mythology that Iâ€ ve had since childhood? Nope. Try as I might, I just couldnâ€ t find a way into it. <img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-7789 size-thumbnail" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-23-at-2.53.51-PM-150x150.png" alt="Find Your Gods podcast" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-23-at-2.53.51-PM-150x150.png 150w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-23-at-2.53.51-PM-300x300.png 300w, https://www.…

#fyg
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2016-04-05T20:18:43Z
subject: Uncategorized
description: Well… things have a way of getting away from you, if you’re not careful. Meaning me, meaning this here website. […]
encoded: Well… things have a way of getting away from you, if youâ€ re not careful. Meaning me, meaning this here website. I know itâ€ s pretty common for people to post apologies for not posting very often. Lord knows Iâ€ ve done it once or twice in the past as well. Sorry about that. The signal-to-noise ratio has been way out of whack these past few months. Just when you think things are calming down… well, I expect you know how it is. But Iâ€ m back and here are a few things that are in the works, a few things to look forward to… <img decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7686" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Red-Boy_TM-Camp-Cover-198x300.jpg" alt="The Red Boy cover" width="198" height="300" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Red-Boy_TM-Camp-Cover-198x300.jpg 198w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Red-Boy_TM-Camp-Cover.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px" />The Red Boy At long last, this one is on track to publish in May (yes, this year). Weâ€ re taking preorders now, if youâ€ re interested. The Chameleonâ€ s Dish This project has been coming together slowly but surely. I havenâ€ t spoken about it much here (or anywhere, really) but it is set in the Underworld and fans of Assam & Darjeeling will be happy to know that some familiar faces put in an appearance. The bad news is, Iâ€ m maybe a quarter of the way through the first draft. So itâ€ ll be a while before this one sees the light of day. But you can get little glimpses behind the scenes over at Pinterest. Iâ€ ve been posting theme and character inspirations there for a while now. New Editions Once The Red Boy is released, Iâ€ ll be turning some attention back to Assam & Darjeeling, Matters of Mortology, and The Cradle. Each book will be re-released in a new, vastly improved edition. Apart from some long overdue cleanup and corrections to the texts, each title will also sport a s…

Summer’s End
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-10-01T15:51:34Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Halloween
subject: Ray Bradbury
subject: October
subject: The Moon
subject: The Trouble with Body Issues
description: October. As long back as I can remember, I’ve always been a fan. There are lots of reasons why but, […]
encoded: October. As long back as I can remember, Iâ€ ve always been a fan. There are lots of reasons why but, if Iâ€ m being honest, the biggest one is probably that October is when itâ€ s fairly safe to assume that weâ€ re done with all the hot weather and summer nonsense. October is when youâ€ re safe to mentally switch over to wearing long sleeves, sweaters, jackets and coats. All of which, thanks to decades of insecurities and body issues, I prefer. October is when the wind blows cold. October is brisk evening walks and cold cheeks. October is when the moon shines brighter and hangs longer in the sky. October is the hinge of the seasons, when the darkness slowly folds over on top of the day. October is when the leaves start to turn, start to fall. Each one looking like they were dipped in fire or in wine. October is apple cider. October is hot soup and fresh baked biscuits. October is a warm house. October is Halloween. October is Ray Bradbury. Make this happen, Internet.

Grandpa was…
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-05-24T20:21:50Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: writing
subject: Aurohn Lake
subject: Keeley
subject: Kensinger Jones
subject: Ken Jones
description: My wife wrote this eulogy for her grandfather, Kensinger Jones. She read it at his memorial service last month. Since […]
encoded: My wife wrote this eulogy for her grandfather, Kensinger Jones. She read it at his memorial service last month. Since the service, people who knew and loved Ken have been asking for a copy (including me). I think it’s lovely. (I don’t have a photo of Keeley and Ken together, but above you can see her in all her glory at Aurohn Lake — one of the many gifts he gave to us all.) Grandpa was a lot of things. He was Grandpa, he was a conservationist, a farmer, a boy scout, an ad-man, a teacher, a father, a husband, a faithful friend to so many, and of course, a writer. He liked writing poems. He liked poems that rhymed. He would write an original poem every year for my birthday card and every year for Christmas cards (and Grandma helped too, I know). He wrote much more, of course. Books and radio plays and essays and articles… Writing has life. Everything written is a creation. Every letter is a seed that has been planted in a row. Everything about Grandpa was full of life. His personality, his writing, and his land. He planted trees, he planted flowers, he planted memories in that land. He wrote some of the best chapters of my childhood. Knowing that the place where he walked, where he worked, where he wrote… The place that he looked out across every day and said the blessing “Lord we thank you for this day, we thank you for the beauty that surround us…” Knowing that that place will be preserved and protected… It’s as if we know our childhood will be protected, too. And what kinder gift, what better story, could ever possibly be written? Every blade of grass is a noun every flower is an adjective every field is a paragraph every tree is a line of poetry And people will be reading the story of the land, as Grandpa and Grandma wrote it together, for generations to come. Keeley Geary March 10, 2015

Periscope
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-04-30T20:39:07Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: writing
subject: twitter
subject: kittens
subject: insomnia
subject: Drawing Away
subject: The Trouble With Technology
subject: Periscope
subject: [redacted]
subject: webcam
subject: Tom Stoppard
subject: Rosencrantz and Guildenster
subject: Nepal
subject: Baltimore
subject: Freddie Gray
subject: journalism
subject: The Whispering Boy
description: I’ve talked about this before, but the latest surge in popularity for live video streaming apps like Periscope has reminded […]
encoded: Iâ€ ve talked about this before, but the latest surge in popularity for live video streaming apps like Periscope has reminded me of the digital clock I used to watch from my bedroom window late at night: …and when I was young, Iâ€ d look out my window at night. There was this flashing clock on top of a building that I could see from my window. It flashed all night long. I used to watch it, counting. Seeing how long it would go on . . . just flashing the time away. Iâ€ d watch this from my window, when I was young. And sometimes Iâ€ d wonder, how long it had been going? How many years had it been there? How long would it keep going? And, maybe, thousands of years from now will it still be going? When everything else is cold and still, and the only sound is the wind blowing through an empty world. Will it stil be there? Flashing? And will it still have the exact time? And when it stops, finally, when itâ€ s done, what time will it be? — from Drawing Away Apparently we never entirely shake off some of those little high school quirks — at least, maybe I didnâ€ t. Years ago, when I clumsily fired up the first version of this site, I had a little webcam that would deliver a static live snapshot every 30 seconds of whatever I was doing at the time. I usually left it on late at night when I was in my office writing — an odd blend of narcissism, introversion, and loneliness. Over the years, the webcam captured a lot of unintended moments, like me obliviously singing my heart out… …arguing with [redacted]… …and obsessively checking to see if I looked cool in the latest snapshot… It was a little one sided, but somehow it touched that same little nerve that watching that clock used to do for me, all those years ago. “…the single assumption which makes our existence viable – that someone is watching…” — from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard Staying up late when the rest of the house is quiet is something that Iâ€ ve been compelled to do since I…

Kensinger Jones
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-03-10T20:14:17Z
subject: Featured
subject: Kensinger Jones
description: I first met Ken Jones on Thanksgiving Day in 2004. We hit it off. Not surprising, as we had a […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881-1024x681.jpg" alt="T.M. Camp with Ken Jones" width="640" height="426" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-7379" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881-600x399.jpg 600w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881-300x199.jpg 300w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881-272x182.jpg 272w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_57881.jpg 1199w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /> I first met Ken Jones on Thanksgiving Day in 2004. We hit it off. Not surprising, as we had a lot of things in common. Each of us had been lucky enough to fall into careers in Advertising. We both discovered a love of books and writing at an early age. And we shared a delight in the spoken word, particularly in the form of long, rambling conversations punctuated by bad puns and jokes. The badder the better. I loved talking with Ken. Every conversation with him was a delight. In fact, part of my “What if I win the lottery?â€ daydream included stopping by to talk with Ken every day. I looked forward to our visits and, when it was time to go, I was always so grateful when he said “Come back and see me again soon.” Early on, I recognized that the almost immediate rapport that developed between us was something rare and special. Over the years, though, I realized that it wasnâ€ t our bond that was rare and special… it was Ken. He was rare and special. His mind, his creativity . . . all of the things he achieved in his work. His sense of adventure, his enthusiasm for the world. The places heâ€ d been, the people heâ€ d met. The connections he made with friends, colleagues, and students — relationships that he valued and sustained for decades. That lifelong devotion he shared with…

“When there is trap set up for you…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-02-10T14:18:39Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: Tunesday
subject: The Underworld
subject: daughter
subject: Gogol Bordello
subject: Wristcutters
subject: accordian
description: It’s been a while since I posted some music — hell, it’s been a while since I posted anything, I […]
encoded: It’s been a while since I posted some music — hell, it’s been a while since I posted anything, I know. This song has been with me for a few days now (my middle daughter is taking accordion lessons). I’d forgotten how much I like it. And there’s an Underworld connection too, if you’re looking hard enough for it.

Goodbye 2014
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2015-01-01T16:33:14Z
subject: Random Thoughts
subject: quotes
subject: The Tempest
subject: dandelion
subject: The Trouble with New Year's
subject: 2014
subject: New Year's Day
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Tammie Bowden
description: “Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6661" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/il_fullxfull.335691994.jpg" alt="Wishes Take Flight by Tammie Bowden" width="800" height="640" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/il_fullxfull.335691994.jpg 800w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/il_fullxfull.335691994-600x480.jpg 600w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/il_fullxfull.335691994-300x240.jpg 300w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/il_fullxfull.335691994-375x300.jpg 375w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> “Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-cappâ€ d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.â€ — William Shakespeare, The Tempest (Photo by Tammie Bowden via Etsy)

Context
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-11-25T03:38:48Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Ferguson
subject: Michael Brown
subject: police
subject: justice
subject: context
description: This is a true story. One afternoon this past summer, my 19-year-old son was walking down the middle of the […]
encoded: This is a true story. One afternoon this past summer, my 19-year-old son was walking down the middle of the street in a neighborhood here in our town. A car pulled up behind him. My son did not move out of the road, just kept walking. After a moment the driver honked his horn. Without turning around, without missing a beat, my son flipped the bird over his shoulder and kept walking. I have no doubt that, had the car behind him been a police car, my son would’ve had a pretty uncomfortable afternoon after that. I also have no doubt that my son would not have been arrested, let alone shot. Because my son is white. As the news comes in from Ferguson that a grand jury has declined to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown, I am reminded that context is everything. And I am profoundly dejected.

“…and we change with them.”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-10-27T03:11:16Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Batman
subject: Alan Moore
subject: comics
subject: kids
subject: comic books
subject: nostalgia
subject: The Simpsons
subject: Jack Kirby
subject: Cerebus
subject: Tardy's
subject: assholes
subject: Freedonia
subject: The Marx Brothers
subject: Frank Miller
subject: The Dark Knight
subject: Frederic Wertham
subject: Seduction of the Innocent
subject: Hellblazer
subject: The Sandman
subject: 7-11
subject: churches
subject: The Trouble with Change
description: When I moved to Michigan in 1996, one of the first things I set out to do in my new […]
encoded: When I moved to Michigan in 1996, one of the first things I set out to do in my new hometown was find a comic book store. Finding the right comic book store is like finding the right church. And more difficult in a town where there is a church approximately, seemingly, within a quarter mile of wherever you happen to be standing. But I digress. It’s all about the people. A good comic book store is a place where you can count on the people who work there: They’ll hold your stuff for you… They’ll make suggestions based on what you like… They’ll talk to your kids and give them little toys or comics. <img decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-6631 size-medium" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comic-book-guy-300x224.jpg" alt="simpson comic book guy" width="300" height="224" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comic-book-guy-300x224.jpg 300w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/comic-book-guy.jpg 390w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />After a few weeks and a lot of really bad comic book stores. The owners were, mostly, the typical stereotype: Guys so loaded down with their own snark that they couldn’t help but sneer at everything, even things they liked. They lived The Simpsons cliché with a remarkable lack of self-awareness. There was the guy who had a great little shop in the hip pre-hipster part of town with all kinds of rarities, pronounced “manga” properly like he was correcting the rest of the world, and refused to get me something so mainstream as Batman Animated Adventures for my two year old son. But he had no problem putting “recommendations” into my weekly pull bag and expecting me to buy them. At another shop — the biggest one in town and possibly one of the best stocked comic stores I’ve ever been in — the guy behind the counter clearly had a large base of return customers with overstuffed pull bags . . . so he couldn’t be bothered to remember my two or …

“Come back here and give me my daughter…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-10-14T13:13:46Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: video
subject: music
subject: The Dish
subject: Tunesday
subject: PJ Harvey
description: Busy times right now, just a quick share of a song that’s been rattling around in my head for the […]
encoded: Busy times right now, just a quick share of a song that’s been rattling around in my head for the past few days. Still holds up, yeah? There’s also a very nice acoustic version of it out there as well. It occurs to me that this song relates to a new project I’ve been working on for a while now. Maybe that’s why it’s been in my head lately. I’ve mentioned the project here before but the only thing you can see related to it is a Pinterest board showing some of the inspiration, imagery, and themes.

So, this kinda made my day…
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-09-02T14:42:51Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: books
subject: monsters
subject: reading
subject: squee
subject: Mercer Mayer
subject: children's books
subject: zipperumpazoo
subject: Professor Wormbog
subject: author
subject: daughter
subject: Zipper-ump-a-zoo
description: When I was younger, two of my favorite books were Mercer Mayer’s Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zooand One […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-6611 size-medium" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_0533-169x300.png" alt="mercer mayer" width="169" height="300" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_0533-169x300.png 169w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_0533-600x1065.png 600w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_0533-576x1024.png 576w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_0533.png 640w" sizes="(max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px" />When I was younger, two of my favorite books were Mercer Mayer’s Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo and One Monster After Another. Recently I dug them out of a box in the basement. They’re now my youngest’s favorite books. She’s reading them over and over again, much as I did at her age… over forty years ago.

time and tide
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-08-27T03:22:28Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: children
subject: school
subject: gratitiude
subject: the gods
description: My youngest started school today. She was excited. She was ready. It was a good morning, lots of memories. A […]
encoded: My youngest started school today. She was excited. She was ready. It was a good morning, lots of memories. A bit fraught, a little bittersweet. We did okay. We watched her walk to the door. So confident. Sheâ€ s my hero. But there were tears in the car and, later, more at home — ours, of course. She was ready. We werenâ€ t. A flood of feelings while we watched the teacher walk our daughter up to the door. Later, I thought about the times Iâ€ ve watched my children turn their backs and walk towards the future, watched them walk away from me. Itâ€ s hard. With the older ones — one is twenty and the other is almost sixteen, now — I remember them little. I remember the feel of their small hands in mine. I remember their voices. Itâ€ s hard. Iâ€ ve stood there in the night, countless times, and watched over them — watched the gentle rise and fall of their chest, watched the tide move in and out as they slept. I stand there now, tonight, watching while my youngest rests after her very exciting first day. And, well, itâ€ s hard. As hard as anything. Maybe even harder than with her older brother and sister. Because I know whatâ€ s coming. I know what sheâ€ s walking towards. What she’s walking away from. And, honestly, itâ€ s a little bit like mourning. Thereâ€ s a death in there, somewhere . . . somewhere in me. I remember the life thatâ€ s passed. I hold onto the hope of the life thatâ€ s to come. They turn their backs, they take their steps. I let them go. I pray theyâ€ ll come back. — — — Thatâ€ s what I want to be for them, as their father — a safe harbor to return to when they need it, a touchstone they can carry along the way. I donâ€ t feel any compulsion to guide their steps, to point them in the direction I think they should go. I donâ€ t feel a need to shape them, to mold them in my image. Their own images are so much more interesting and wonderful. Itâ€ s more rewarding for me and, really, more useful for them to just watch and marvel over who th…

On Shooter’s Hill…
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-08-10T20:28:09Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Selene
subject: steve moore
subject: endymion
subject: ashes
description: …right about now, they’re scattering Steve Moore’s ashes on this burial mound, by the light of the full moon. Sleep […]
encoded: …right about now, they’re scattering Steve Moore’s ashes on this burial mound, by the light of the full moon. Sleep well, Endymion…

“These are the days it never rains but it pours…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-07-02T05:02:29Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: Tunesday
subject: video
subject: music
subject: stress
subject: Bowie
subject: Quee
subject: Under Pressure
subject: never ending
description: It’s been hard going around here lately . . . and there’s another tough week ahead. Here’s David Bowie and […]
encoded: It’s been hard going around here lately . . . and there’s another tough week ahead. Here’s David Bowie and Queen (of course). (This one goes out to the rest of the people on the edge of the night. I’m right there with ya.)

“It sneaks up on you without a warning…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-06-02T15:07:02Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: birthday
subject: house
subject: Elvis Costello
subject: 45
subject: bats
subject: omens
subject: prosperity
subject: belfry
description: A bat showed up in the house this morning. He was hiding in the bookshelves. I assume it was a […]
encoded: A bat showed up in the house this morning. He was hiding in the bookshelves. I assume it was a harbinger of prosperity and long life for my birthday, and not because, yâ€ know, we donâ€ t have a belfry. He was a little brown bat, very cute. I got him out, safe and sound. I expect heâ€ s posting to Twitter right now about it. (Bats use Twitter. Obviously.)

“You know me, I’m your friend…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-05-13T12:00:53Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: podcasts
subject: video
subject: music
subject: Tunesday
subject: Greg Proops
subject: The N Word
subject: Smartest Man in the World
subject: Super Fly
description: You can blame Greg Proops for this one. The cat plays it all the time on his The Smartest Man […]
encoded: You can blame Greg Proops for this one. The cat plays it all the time on his The Smartest Man in the World podcast. And it’s outstanding. As is the podcast. So here’s Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” for your listening pleasure.

“We feel lost and we feel found…”
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-03-18T11:59:02Z
subject: Morning Music
subject: storms
subject: video
subject: music
subject: sleep
subject: dream
subject: Tunesday
subject: Amanaska
subject: Simon Lewis
subject: all time
subject: haven
subject: safety
subject: harbor
description: Some songs just stick with me, sometimes. I don’t know why that is. It seems like songs — well, some […]
encoded: Some songs just stick with me, sometimes. I don’t know why that is. It seems like songs — well, some songs — are more like places. They occupy a physical place in my mind. They’re snapshots of the geography of my dreams. And I find myself returning to them again and again — a place where I’m safe, protected. The word haven means “a place of shelter and safety; refuge; asylum.” It comes from the words for port and harbor — it means a place you can go, to escape the stormy seas. At any rate, here’s “Sleep” from Amanaska… Happy Tunesday everyone…

Big Pop
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-02-25T04:12:08Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: poetry
subject: family
subject: childhood
subject: death
subject: memory
subject: "Mother!"
subject: Big Pop
subject: dogs
subject: grandfather
subject: grandparents
subject: West Virginia
subject: grapes
subject: bitter
subject: wife
subject: grave
subject: dentures
subject: teeth
subject: canes
subject: walking stick
subject: snake
subject: fleas
description: Today’s my grandfather’s birthday. He would have been 106 years old. I don’t have a lot of memories of him. […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6566" alt="1921934_10152260027078637_1007993859_n" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1921934_10152260027078637_1007993859_n-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1921934_10152260027078637_1007993859_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1921934_10152260027078637_1007993859_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1921934_10152260027078637_1007993859_n-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Today’s my grandfather’s birthday. He would have been 106 years old. I don’t have a lot of memories of him. We moved away when I was very young and I only saw him a handful of times after that. But the memories I do have are special. I wrote this a few years back. For what it’s worth, you can see the bowl of grapes in the photo… “Big Pop” A plastic bowl of grapes. The dusty, almost-black globes polished by our fingertips. The tart snap of the skin between my teeth. He teaches me to spit out the seeds, the stones bitter on the tip of my tongue. Wrestling old Smoky to the ground, he bites the dogâ€ s ears, both of them growling. I watch, I laugh, wondering if he will get fleas. The rigid line of his dentures, sticking them out at us when no one was looking. Laughing, terrified by the sudden appearance of that slick pink plastic, the crown of his teeth. The walking sticks, later the canes by the door. The carved one, the snakeâ€ s head poised to strike. Wrestling him to the shag carpet in my auntâ€ s apartment. Two year old champion, I pin him down and I strike. My mother flares with anger: “Donâ€ t you hit my daddy.â€ Photographs posed, the stiff movement of home movies. Memories, stories told around the family, heirlooms. Mythology now. So little I can claim for my own. His voice, surprisingly high. Rusty, wavering and …

This is important.
type: item
creator: T.M. Camp
date: 2014-02-21T16:15:59Z
subject: A Moment of Geek
subject: Giving Back
subject: comics
subject: Bill Mantlo
subject: Rocket Raccoon
subject: Guardians of the Galaxy
subject: hit and run
subject: charity
subject: Micronauts
subject: ROM
subject: The Incredible Hulk
subject: donations
description: If you read comics back in the late 70’s and through the 80’s, then you might very well have read […]
encoded: <img decoding="async" src="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Micronauts-1-199x300.jpg" alt="Micronauts by Bill Mantlo" width="199" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6550" srcset="https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Micronauts-1-199x300.jpg 199w, https://www.tmcamp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Micronauts-1.jpg 266w" sizes="(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />If you read comics back in the late 70’s and through the 80’s, then you might very well have read a comic or two by Bill Mantlo. For me, the standout is his work on the Micronauts title. In lesser hands, that book would have never been much more than a crass and cynical marriage between Comics and Marketing/Merchandising. In Bill’s hands, however, an entire world took shape. Thirty-five years later, I still have that world inside me. Thanks to Bill. My old Micronauts toys are posed on shelves in my office. And those comics Bill wrote are there along with them. Bill did the same for ROM: Spaceknight — a flop of a toy but a longstanding fan favorite that made a significant contribution to the Marvel Comics Universe. And I’m told that I am missing out by not having read Bill’s run on The Incredible Hulk . Bill was important. He is important. I’ve been nerding out nonstop since I saw the recent trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy. I know nothing about the characters, I’ve never read the comics. But I’m mildly obsessed with Rocket Raccoon and I can’t wait to see the movie. FanTAStic. Come to find out, Bill Mantlo also created Rocket Raccoon. In 1992, Bill was struck by a hit-and-run driver. He was comatose for a period of time and suffered irreparable brain damage. Since then he has lived in a healthcare facility in reduced circumstances, struggling with his disabilities and depression. He is no longer able to write. Bill created heroes for the rest of us. We need to return the favor. You can make a donation that will provide direct and i…