Everyone say hello to our latest member Bowen Dwelle ,here with his STSC Substack debut. Even a cursory glance around his Substack An Ordinary Disaster will show you that we are lucky to have him on the team. Bowen is a great writer and more importantly he absolutely lives up to his claim that ‘[He is] here to tell the truth.’ I’m a big fan of memoirists and those who write from experience just as I am a fan of people who call their shots and then live up to them with their creative work. So Bowen’s work is right up my street.
Thanks again to Tom for curating STSC and for inviting me to submit. I'm experimenting with something new here: a bit of reflective autofiction based on a critical juncture that I've written about previously in my memoir material, e.g. https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/09-i-let-confusion-in
This line: “It only took about ten or twelve seconds from the first tremor to the final shimmy, like a big dog just out of a lake.”
Having sat through the ‘94 Northridge Earthquake in a restaurant in Hermosa Beach I remember the feeling well. Perfect description.
Powerful piece my friend. I’m sorry it took you to a dark place. You are well acquainted with your own darkness and that makes the light even more spectacular. 🙏
Thanks again to Tom for curating STSC and for inviting me to submit. I'm experimenting with something new here: a bit of reflective autofiction based on a critical juncture that I've written about previously in my memoir material, e.g. https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/09-i-let-confusion-in
I can't wait to see how this one lands!
Nice closing line! I'm still trying to understand what autofiction is, so I'll file this away in my archive.
Hi Bowen,
I liked this a lot. It reminds me of a book by Kate Atkinson called Life After Life that posits different lives for the same person.
Best,
David
"As much as I know that wanting something else is probably the oldest recipe for suffering,..." Thank you 🙏
This line: “It only took about ten or twelve seconds from the first tremor to the final shimmy, like a big dog just out of a lake.”
Having sat through the ‘94 Northridge Earthquake in a restaurant in Hermosa Beach I remember the feeling well. Perfect description.
Powerful piece my friend. I’m sorry it took you to a dark place. You are well acquainted with your own darkness and that makes the light even more spectacular. 🙏