WITH A TWIST by Rob Lopresti John Floyd’s column about favorite books and stories got me thinking about my own choices. (More on that in a future entry.) I quickly realized that a lot of my favorite stories had twist endings. And that got me thinking some more…. The element of surprise Let’s define our […]

FAST FILM by Rob Lopresti My nephew Chris Messineo is a filmmaker. That’s not what puts dinner on the table, but it is his passion. He started OffStage Films four years ago with two friends and this month they premiered their lucky thirteenth film. Thirteen films in four years? How do they manage it, you […]

LOST WEEKEND by Robert Lopresti Friday 6 PM. Get home. Open the mail. Big brown self-addressed envelope contains one of my stories. The rejection note is one typed sentence: I found the story compelling, but not what we are looking for right now. Then the editor’s hand-signed name. White wine is cold and compelling. Pour […]

A VINTAGE DRAM by Rob Lopresti When I was a freshman in college I took an introduction to philosophy course entitled Freedom and Individuality. We read, as I recall some Plato, Nietzsche, B. F. Skinner, and a bunch of others. All heady stuff, but it was the last book that threw me for a loop. […]

DEPARTMENT OF ODD SOCKS III — REVENGE OF THE ARGYLES! by Rob Lopresti A few months ago I told you about the theft of maps and other material that my library suffered. The thief, James W. Brubaker, has pled guilty and on September 15 he was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to […]

THE GAME OF DAN GREENBURG by Rob Lopresti Back in the 1970s, which could laughingly be called my formative years, New York Magazine used to have a weekly competition. Each week Mary Ann Madden would set a contest and thousands of readers would try to get published. I vividly remember some of my favorite entries […]

SIGNS OF HEALTH by Robert Lopresti Last week Melodie wrote about communication problems during her hospital stay. By coincidence I had written something on a similar topic a week before. My view was pretty different; no doubt in part because I was just visiting (not Melodie, by the way). Compare and contrast … Recently a […]