PRODIGAL'S CHAIR
  • NOTES FROM THE OVERGROUND
  • ABOUT PC
  • PAST ISSUES

WELCOME TO PC #15:
THE BEGINNINGS & ENDINGS ISSUE

FEB. 2018
Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring. - Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
This is the end, beautiful friend. / This is the end, my only friend, the end / Of our elaborate plans, the end. / Of everything that stands, the end. - The Doors, The End
If you think of life in circular terms, then there really are no endings or beginnings. (Or should it be "beginnings or endings"?) Maybe you can't wrap your head around life as being circular, choosing instead to see our existence as an inevitable march from "A" to "B." If you compromise, you might see life as more of an arc, or a pyramid like the one Freytag envisioned to help us understand the structure of a story.
 
Regardless of life's shape, we can look pick out points that can be definitively plotted as "beginnings" and "endings." Our children are born. Our parents die. We have first dates, and we dissolve marriages. We start with appetizers, and end with dessert (mostly).
 
But if we can accept that life is circular, then a definable beginning or end becomes blurry, and that makes sense. Can you begin something without moving away from something else? In many cultures, death - the ultimate ending from a biological standpoint - simply marks the beginning of the unknown (and even this has been challenged by The Lion King... "and it moves us all").
Header art  by T. Guzzio. Original photo by M. Bliss.

Picture

THE BADGER-JACKASS TRAVERSE

A TRIO OF MODERN-DAY EXPLORERS TAKES US ROUND-TRIP THROUGH A PAINTED DESERT.

Picture

ROBERT FROST IS CYCLICAL

THERE IS NO BEGINNING OR NO ENDING TO FROST'S PRESENCE IN AND OUT OF VINCE RAPPA'S LIFE. 

Picture

ASHES TO ASHES

IN TOM CONWAY'S SHORT STORY THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE IS THE PULLED THREAD THAT LEADS TO A SLOW UNRAVELING.

Picture

FILL IN THE BLANKS: THE POLICEMAN'S STORY

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS OVERLAP IN LIZ CIAMPA'S SHORT TAKE ON RELATIONSHIPS

Picture

WRITER'S BLOCK

EDWARD HARTSHORN'S SHORT STORY SHOWS HOW "NOT" CAN BE THE EASIEST PRECURSOR TO GETTING STARTED.

Picture

WHY I CAN'T REMEMBER MY STUDENTS' NAMES

A BLUR OF BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS SHAPES TOM GUZZIO'S PROFESSIONAL FUTURE AND HIS MEMORY.
​

This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

Opt Out of Cookies
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
ISSN 2378-5268
  • NOTES FROM THE OVERGROUND
  • ABOUT PC
  • PAST ISSUES