Dispatches and Marginalia from Michael DeVault
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Author: michaeldevault

When the World Comes to an End.

“For english, press one. Para espaniol, pruhuhumini numero dos.” One. “Thank you for calling AppleCare Customer Support Help Line. Please speak the name of

Sep 13

A Day in the Life of a Hardened Criminal.

Until today I had very little sympathy for those people who find themselves living in jail because of breaking the law. For years, I

Sep 2

The Stuff of Human Drama. (Or, Oh God Oh God We’re All Going to Die!)

Saturday evening, I and my roommate (an Atmospheric Sciences major) began watching CNN and the Weather Channel religiously, anxious for a finalized storm track.

Aug 30

Cardinal Sins. (Or: Things not to do when writing.)

If you’ve ever wondered why so many books you read seem so similar and thought that it was just you, or your taste in

Jul 7

An Ode to the Idylls of the 4th. (OR: To write or to barbecue…)

That is the question. Whether tis nobler to entertain one’s friends on the Bayou, or to take to the keyboard against a sea of

Jul 2

Nothing is ever as it seems. (Or….So your daughter has a blog…)

I have a blog. Perhaps you have a blog. It seems these days that everyone has a blog. So that my daughter has a

May 11

Life, or something like it.

Being a writer, I understand the need for universiality, that feeling that the movie’s main message somehow applies to the lives of every family

Apr 24

Dating in the new millennium. (Or….Why I Predict the Human Race Will Disappear Within Three Generations)

So. There I was, sitting with my daughter in the restaurant, chatting. I mentioned something about something incidental and, like sometimes happens, the girl

Apr 19

Non-Fiction

Places I’ve Written For Currently Appearing: Eclectica Magazine: “Finding Machu Picchu” – an essay about my life-long friendship with the writer Maude Files Zimmer. BayouLife

Feb 15

When the good people of Cranston, Texas, learn that a hometown boy has been killed in Iraq, they set about mounting a proper welcome

Feb 15