David Cameron Writes

A poem is the first thing I remember writing that wasn't a class assignment. I think I was in high school, and I have no idea where the impulse came from. I was a budding environmentalist at the time, tuned in to those who decried human encroachment on natural habitat - the Joni Mitchell "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" era.  I lived in a small city, and there was a telephone pole at the corner of our yard and our neighbor's yard. We had squirrels that raced up and down that pole and jumped from branch to branch of adjacent trees. The poem I wrote featured those squirrels, and I don't remember anything of the poem other than my metaphor for the squirrels as "rag-tag refugees from the wire-bound trees." The gist of my poem was that the squirrels were here first, and we are the interlopers, so we have no right to complain if they sometimes gnaw the telephone lines. I showed the poem to my mother, which was an uncharacteristic move. I was typi...

The  1951 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe has to be my favorite automobile design. The front end looks like Flash Gordon's rocket, and the trunk is low and long. Some say you can't tell whether it's coming or going. And then there's the name "Studebaker." It has the perfect assemblage of consonants and vowels, allowing it to roll off the tongue with a clickety-clack.   I've never owned or even driven a Studebaker. I don't think I've seen a 1951 Champion model in person, and I was only 10 when the last of the Studebaker brand rolled off the assembly line. But my soul vibrates in perfect harmony with the Champion's quirky lines. I'm not entirely sure why - maybe because it's different but not flashy. It's creative without being egotistical. Maybe, it's a little nerdy and not afraid to be laughed at by those who don't know better.   I aspire to a Studebaker vibe in my writing. Different, a little nerdy, attentive to the inn...