Writings

Mar 29, 2021

Slugger

Our twin boys were around 6 years old when they started fumbling around with Little League Baseball. They only lasted one season — wasn’t...

Mar 8, 2021

The Interview

Most every Burner has done the Burning Man Interview. Be it in the back of Ubers, on city busses, the bank teller asking, or the Xfinity...

Feb 22, 2021

Moms Manuscript

My mom typed on a manual Underwood typewriter at eighty words a minute, typo-free. And this was done with the tips of her long manicured...

Feb 9, 2021

Double Wave Hold Down

I stood leaning on the tailgate of my pickup, watching the waves of Ocean Beach from the parking lot. They were huge. They didn’t give a...

Jan 26, 2021

St. Elmo

St. Elmo’s Fire seemed a myth to me - until I saw it. It was faint enough that one had to be away from the light of the burn barrel to...

Jan 19, 2021

Burning the Butt

Photo by Scott Beale In the year 2000, we burned an anus. It was a Burning Man art project called, The Anus (also known as The Great...

Jan 12, 2021

Remembering Airports

Covid may have changed airports for good. This could be a good thing. Back in 2017, I traveled to Norfolk, Virginia to do a book reading...

Jan 5, 2021

City of Permission?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was too rich for Kalamazoo in 1979. Even though K-Zoo was one of Michigan’s “progressive” college towns,...

Dec 21, 2020

Pre-teen Quarantine

Parenting pre-teens in the time of Covid is like living in a pinball machine. My wife and I have twelve-year-old twin boys who are...

Dec 15, 2020

Social Smith

I am a Social Smith. It has always been my calling. Even as a child, I would get in trouble for sneaking out of bed and camping at the...

Dec 8, 2020

Sledgehammer

Photo by Crimson Rose Sledgehammer “You know you’re getting old when your tools are in museums.” These were my thoughts as I approached...

Nov 30, 2020

Turkey Fail

Most everyone has a Thanksgiving turkey fail story — from exploding deep fry grease fires to horrible burn victim scenarios to dried up...

Nov 23, 2020

Muni Punch

San Francisco has always been a bit off its rocker. And now in the marathon months of a pandemic, it seems that San Francisco is off its...

Oct 26, 2020

Virtual Noob - A Boomer's Trip into the Burning Man Multi-Verse

"It's official, honey. We won't be building Black Rock City this year." “Good,” my wife replied. “I can finally grow some tomatoes.”...

Sep 22, 2020

(Excerpt) Chapter 1: In Through the Out Door (Medium)

I shared Chapter 1 of BUILT TO BURN on Medium, where it was added to the Beyond Burning Man publication. Enjoy!

Aug 18, 2020

Mom's Menthols

My mother smoked for 71 years. She passed at the age of 86 with a final diagnosis of congestive heart failure. All said that the...

TONY "COYOTE" PEREZ

Author & Storyteller