You’re Not Paying Attention

My mother was flipping through photos from last week’s Canal Room show. “You look so tired,” she said. “I can always tell what’s going on with you from your eyes.” That was a pretty major bummer as a kid ‘cuz there was no faking her out. I couldn’t play sick to avoid school; she’d just…

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First Annual Mister Rogers Madaket Triathlon

The inaugural staging of the Mister Rogers Madaket Triathlon went off without a hitch today. I finished with a new course record — heck, the only recorded course time, ever — of 1:26:19. It was a blustery 60 degrees, windy and full-on rainy when I sprinted down the dunes and into the bay. I’ve never…

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An Empty Crooked House

The Crooked House — Mr. and Mrs. Rogers’ summer cottage for nearly 50 years — sits empty next door. King Friday’s kingdom away from the Kingdom of Make Believe is sad, and quiet. With the steely gray skies overhead and crisp fall breeze blowing through the dune grass, so am I. I had hoped to…

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Writing “Shiver”

I was born to David Wagner and Mary Catherine Bolster 31-years-ago today in Iowa City, Iowa. They were 25. I was induced on a Friday, and born on a Saturday morning at 12:51 a.m. Sunday afternoon, my father left for Waldorf, Maryland, to begin teaching chemistry at the local community college. My mother, brother and…

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