blogging – Page 44 – Andrew Careaga

What will you shed in the Year of the Snake?

I kicked the habit (kicked the habit, kicked the habit)
Shed my skin (shed my skin)
This is the new stuff (this is the new stuff)
I go dancing in (we can go dancing in)

– Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer“

Happy Lunar New Year, folks, and welcome to the Year of the Snake. It begins today, January 29, 2025.

While many of us in Western cultures have been taught to take a dim view of the slithery creature — thanks to the serpent’s role in the Old Testament story of the fall of humanity — but that is not the case in the Eastern hemisphere. In much of Asia, the snake is “celebrated and revered” as a symbol of transformational change, writes Kimmy Yam in this NBC News story about the Lunar New Year.

New flash fiction: ‘No Point’

Featuring a cameo appearance by Jack Kerouac. Sort of.

I have a new flash fiction story called “No Point” up over at Roi Fainéant Press. This is my second piece with the good folks at Roi Fainéant (the first, “Narcissus on the Deck,” was published on the RF website last September).