I was walking around Lowe’s with this homeless guy. Let’s call him Randy. He had long, stringy hair and a gaunt face, and his accent was Kentuckian-ish. We were at Lowe’s because his flashlight was dead. It was a small, blue LED light, the size and shape of a toilet paper tube. The problem was … Continue reading Somebody else’s problem
Author: jfigy
I'm a writer, vegetarian, musician, francophile, and student at UIndy. I have a beautiful GF/editor, a big family, two rabbits, and a devil cat.
I want to say “Thank you” to every single person who has wished me well and congratulated me. The kind words over the past few days have been countless. Really, it has been a long journey, and I would not have been able to do it without the support of friends, family and faculty. Thank … Continue reading Graduation
What made marriage so difficult back then was yet again that instigator of so many other sorts of heartbreak: the oversize brain. That cumbersome computer could hold so many contradictory opinions on so many different subjects all at once, and switch from one opinion or subject to another one so quickly, that a discussion between … Continue reading God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut
When it comes to fiction, Franz Kafka is amazing. He was ahead of his time, and in some respects, is ahead of ours. However, he wasn't that much of an essayist, according to some personal reflections in Franz Kafka: Diaries, 1910-1923. In his journal, Kafka comments on some lines from Goethe, saying: The difficulties of bringing to an end … Continue reading Essay advice from Franz Kafka
Maybe every town in America transmits that radio signal, and on certain nights when the weather and the frequency are just right, we can all hear our hometowns talking softly to us in the back of our dreams. -Cathy Day, The Circus in Winter
On Thursday, I covered the Martinsville Artesians varsity baseball team. The Arties won, 9-7, although the Greenwood Woodmen nearly made a comeback in the last few innings. Coach Mike Schwartzentruber said that the fact the team held on and won shows that the players have improved from years past. However, he added that the … Continue reading Martinsville baseball team evens out its record
Robert Neal is a tall mountain of a man with booming voice and intense eyes. The first time that I saw Robert, he had a big black beard, long coat and overlarge pirate hat. He was playing Orsino in the strangest production of "Twelfth Night" that I've ever seen. (So, I guess, the weirder of two productions.) … Continue reading Robert Neal—actor and professor
If I say something stupid, which does happen, I prefer to be in the company of friends. Not famous people. But when I met Nikki Giovanni, I said something pretty stupid. Nikki was speaking for a diversity lecture at UIndy, and she kept bringing up Kurt Vonnegut, a personal hero of mine. So I recommended: "If you're … Continue reading Nikki Giovanni on Kurt Vonnegut and Antarctica
If you were wondering how University of Indianapolis grads stack up against the rest of the nation, fear not! I have the answer. I really enjoyed writing this article. It didn't hurt that I got a lot of advice about the job search and keeping options open. Although thinking about finding a job and what the … Continue reading Yes, UIndy grads are competitive in the job market
When I was an intern at Metonymy Media, I wrote a lot of blogs. Some were about cars or travel, and some were about other things that I had more or less interest in. But one of my favorite blogs was one I wrote about a trip that I took to the Emily Dickinson House in … Continue reading That time I visited Emily Dickinson’s house
James Figy 