It's a blog. It's a drink. It's a blink. It's Heath Buckmaster.
Writing and Language
Pilgrim’s Pride.
Jul 21st
Three days ago a pilgrim arrived at the shop I run on Fourth Street. I was fussing with boxes in a back corner when the tinkling of the old rusty bell above the door signaled a customer. It was a rare sound – customers weren’t in the mood for rare books these days, what with the economy in such a slump – so I quickly pushed a box of old magazines into a shelf and hurried to the front of the store.
I paused at the top of the three stairs that led down to the cashier desk – a pilgrim? More >
Snooze.
Jul 15th
Have I mentioned lately how uninspired I am, lately?
I look to my right and there is a stack of books just waiting for my red pen to edit them. Good books too. Books that you probably want to buy some day. Books that mock me relentlessly with their mockyness.
Do you fall asleep at your computer?
And then there are the books in progress. Add another stack of those, only the stack is on a hard drive mocking me with all its mockinglyness.
And it’s not that I’m truly uninspired – why just the other morning I woke up in the middle of More >
Silent Kay
Jun 18th
The night before Christmas a long, long time ago, there lived a girl named Kay. She hardly ever spoke, so she was called Silent Kay.
On the day before Christmas, Silent Kay was knitting a sweater to give to her mother. She heard a knock at the door. She turned the knob and opened the door. On the door step, was a knight whom she didn’t know.
“Pardon me,” said the knight. “I need your help. I scraped my knees, and knuckles, and I need a bandage. I have some in my knapsack but I can’t get them out because there is More >
The Strategic Pause.
Jun 9th
Today I will be discussing a linguistic tool called the Strategic Pause.
First, an illustration:
Heath: “Wow the kitchen is a mess!”
David: “And that is why I’m going to clean it!”
Heath: “Yay!”
David: “Later tonight.”
Heath: “Oh…”
The Strategic Pause is a highly effective linguistic tool that can be used in conversation for three main purposes to elaborate on the original statement with: humour, negation, or reversal.
In the above example we are first presented with a very pleasing statement that David is going to clean the kitchen. You know it’s pleasing because it’s followed by a response of “Yay!” This is followed by the strategic pause, at which More >
Music Makes a People Come Together
May 13th
Note: I originally published this in 2003, and it’s long, so grab a soda and sit for a while. I felt that during this critical time in our country, when separation is becoming the norm, instead of inclusion it might be time to remind everyone that Music Makes a People Come Together. Because look around…everywhere you turn it’s heartache, it’s everywhere that you go…
Also note: If you are able to accurately count the number of musical references contained herein, you might win a prize.
Ma ma se, Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa. Some of the most expressive words ever More >
