Susan and I happened to meet on a sidewalk downtown last week. She and I worked together back in 1994, and I probably haven't seen her in almost 10 years. I asked if she still stayed in touch with   

4:00 a.m. -- I get out of bed pretty much at the normal time. Spend about an hour or so drinking coffee and working on my novel. I do my best writing in the morning, or so I lie to myself. 5:00 a  

It wasn't a shock when I heard my cousin was dying. It wasn't a shock when I heard he had died. I guess it helps, not being surprised. Really, though,I don't think I've fully accepted that my favo  

This time last year, if you were to ask me if I wanted to be a blogger, I would have said you were damn crazy. Sure, there are some blogs I read and frequent almost everyday, but me doing it? Being  

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you're doing everything wrong, everyone knows it and you're a complete idiot? If you have, then I want to welcome you to the past six months   

Seeing Lucille again was going to be fun. She was a friend of my twin brother's, and we became friends after his death 12 years ago. Like my brother did, she lives in Seattle. Through the years, we  

"What if it's already happened?" the old man asked me. I'm usually one to ignore random outbursts like this on the bus. It's either that, or I'm a million miles away, spaced out on my iPod and look  

When we found Mr. Gillis, he'd been dead for several days. In his bed, he had the sheets pulled up over his head like he knew he was going to die. This happened the week before Christmas. The compa  

Let me make one point very clear: Because you have money doesn't mean you have class. No sooner than I started the job, I ended it, couldn't give the customary two weeks' notice before I said my goo  

When I hear people say that Cincinnati is a friendly town, I usually roll my eyes and say, "Yeah, right." I don't think people are friendly here at all. Most people I come in contact with seem upti  

Back in late October, I had the pleasure of talking to Richard Ford about his new book, The Lay of the Land, which had just been released and for which he had begun a long book tour that continue  

(Excerpt from Larry Gross' work-in-progress The Hurricane Café: a Novel) My name is Tommy James. I know it's a strange name but it's what I'm stuck with. My last name can be my first; my firs  

My name is Karen and I'm 22-years old. If you read the Living Out Loud Blog, you know a little bit about me, because Larry puts a lot of my posts up. Now he wants me to write a column with a word c  

I'm back at 810 Main St. downtown, working some hours at Elgin Office Equipment and doing this and that just like I did 33 years ago. It doesn't feel strange coming full circle. Somehow in the back  

Last week this column turned three years old. I've lost track of how many bus or bus stop stories I've written about over this period of time -- probably about 10 or so. You're about to get another