Kendall Defoe
Bio
Teacher, reader, writer, dreamer... I am a college instructor who cannot stop letting his thoughts end up on the page. No AI. No Fake Work. It's all me...
And I did this:
Stories (833)
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Dear Master
Dear Master, I would like to thank you again most sincerely for the opportunity to travel outside of our small community. To see the world is a sure way of expanding the senses and increasing one’s knowledge of self and our fellow man. As well, it was gracious of our most famous visitor, Ms. J___, to allow me a place in her home. I have included a photograph of her rather large residence in a section of this country named after angels. Do not think that I am still in this country because of such ostentation. Far from it. It seems to me that everyone here is concerned with how fast they can move and make money, although there is also the other problem of their consumption which seems to be the more pressing issue. It is a land where eating has become one of their non-official sports. Dear Master, there is so much that can be done here and needs to be done right away for their souls. They need our help.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Confessions
My Discman
I will not speak for anyone else, but the Covid-19 age has brought out certain traits in my character that I never wanted to consider. My book collection has grown exponentially (Facebook's Marketplace has ruined me). My running habit has made me actually look forward to getting out of the house. I have joined several online pages that allow me to write, scribble, note my thoughts, and continue with the idea that I can be creative in the worst of times.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Confessions
The Lady at the Counter
He had to make another list. The café was playing music that was quite light, but still a nuisance in his head. With his headset now in, he could get out of its stickiness and think about what to put in print. His spiral notebook was open to what he had already completed. It was not enough.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Fiction
Polite Exorcism: Laurie Anderson at Théatre Rialto (Montreal)
It ended with a hug. I should build up to this, so let me explain: on a Wednesday night during the city’s annual Pop Montreal festival, Laurie Anderson, accompanied on stage by Rebecca Foon and Colin Stetson, dry ice, programmed noises and odd sonic textures, performed a set at Theatre Rialto that felt more cathartic than most other concerts I have attended in this city. Some performances do leave you wanting more. The performance at the Rialto felt like an exorcism where the demons knew they had to run.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Beat
Tsukudani
Tsukudani (pronounced “Skoo-Dan-Knee”) is still my favourite rite of passage with food, and the most interesting marker in my travels and choice of diversions. I was raised in a family with many challenges that were usually gastrointestinal (green bananas, fish heads and various unique tubers and vegetables were always on our plates), but there was nothing to compare with the challenge of tsukudani. It was a meal that my mother would not prepare; it was a dish she still has not forgiven me for enjoying.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Wander
The Neighbours
He just wanted to stay in, but there was no choice. With a day off from school, Michael had to clear snow off the sidewalk, driveway and front steps before his stepfather came home. And he was done, but his mother noticed that their neighbours were very quiet that afternoon. No car leaving the house early that morning. No tire tracks or footprints in or out of the house. He looked over and sighed deeply.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Horror
Trinket
Unofficial Report Document: I did what I had to do. Okay, I am writing this to cover my own ass if any of this comes out. I was engaged by Captain K_____________ on a mission to retrieve an object on a post-apocalyptic Tier-4 planet and the mission went very badly. This is how I am interpreting it. This document will be stored with my other papers, so I do not expect to have this timestamped beyond the safe where it is kept and the lodging where I awaited my instructions. Again, I was taken onto a mission by a senior officer. I followed orders. I obeyed.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Futurism
The Nobel Prize Lecture
The following is an official transcript of the Nobel lecture given on Dec. 10, 20--: Ladies and gentlemen, your majesties, and my fellow laureates: I must say that I still feel as though I have been having a long and beautiful dream these last few months. Nothing can prepare the writer for the moment – a vivid point of realization - when he discovers that his chosen profession was not a mistake or a whim that would have been best left to adolescence. For that, I thank the academy. I thank you all.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Fiction
I Am Not Her Negro
This was the scene. I had just watched the movie “I Am Not Your Negro” at the AMC Forum in Montreal. I quite liked it; many of the clips used to trace important moments in the life of the writer James Baldwin were material I had seen online or on TV programs too far back in my youth to forget them. What surprised me the most was the general premise of the movie: Baldwin intended to write a book based on the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers. He knew all three men. He understood what they represented for black America and how they were molded and formed by their relationship to white America. And he saw that all three men wanted the same things: respect, opportunities, and hope for themselves, their communities, and their families. Those dreams would not always be granted in their lives, but it was earned in their deaths and the legacies they left to be discussed and debated. The moments when Baldwin’s own responses to their losses are shared by Samuel L. Jackson are very moving; some of the most powerful moments in the film have no visible action on the screen except his voice repeating Baldwin’s own deep feelings. And because of these moments, I considered the film a true success. The audience seemed to feel that way, too, although I could not measure all of the individual opinions next to mine. It was a movie I had to watch without being conscious of any after-credits discussion about its merits, problems, and what it was all meant. I never thought about what it meant. I thought about how I felt. I thought about James Baldwin. I thought that I had to see it again.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Confessions
