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:
Achievements (6)
Stories (840)
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This Is The Day
“You know what? I quit.” No, of course, no one could hear me. I was alone in my office – shared, but pretty much my own – and it was only 9:46 in the morning, so we would have a meeting in less than fifteen minutes and I did not really want to see Mr. Roleiman’s face again on a Monday morning before I had my first cup of coffee and he told the staff all about how so-and-so did such a great job with sales (clap clap clap) and then the other person got a dozen clients to sign on for things that they could not afford (clap clap clap clap) and then he would look at the rest of us and not say a word about all the things we did because we were such a big disappointment to the company and he wanted us to know it without telling it (show without telling; he should have been a writer). So, I was done and I just had to wait for Allan to come back from the office bathroom on the third floor – the best one – and he would have to handle the new account on his own because I was fed up and it was a Monday after one of the best weekends I’d ever had after I found that secondhand shop with that rare science-fiction section that had titles I had never seen before and I made friends with the owner and he told me that there was a sale coming up in two weeks, but he would make me a deal right now if I took three copies off his hands. A little pricey, but they were worth it and I wondered what I was doing with myself in this place when no one really cares about what I give the office only what they can take and take and take and I studied literature just as a lark and wanted to work in publishing not business anyway. Why did I stop there, anyway? I was out going to the local farmer’s market to get those oranges that you could taste test from the small trays they had out for customers and things were in season like the mango that I was not too sure about after seeing flies land on it and people still sampling them without a care in their minds.
By Kendall Defoe 8 months ago in Fiction
Instructions for the Court
Note - here is a link to the Challenge: Notes for proper behaviour in the courtroom: 1. No smiles. Why did he have to give me such a ridiculous list? And why start with the obvious? I know that the 'court of public opinion' - such a ludicrous phrase - has already decided that I am guilty. I could not keep up the charade of tears and weeping all day long now, could I? When I saw him bloviating and gesturing, it just came out. At least I look good (such a fine artist).
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Fiction
Montréal, Strikes and Me
Here we go again... On June 2nd, the STM voted to go on strike for nine days, running from June 9th to the 17th. It will not be a total shutdown of the public transit system of my adopted hometown of Montréal, Quebec. Only certain hours of the day will see the buses and metro closed to the public, but still does not make it easier for the average commuter to plan their day-to-day activities...
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Journal
Nothing but Something
Here is the link to the challenge: “The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.” I wrote that down and I knew that I had to because I had my red pen that always went with the reporter’s pad that said, “Reporter’s Pad” right on the front. It is the same red colour as the pen and I know that I can make notes now even if this is very strange and I do not like this place and there is no carpet here and I wonder if I am going to be in trouble because I did not show up for lunch and I am not hungry so should I worry.
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Horror
Contested. Top Story - June 2025.
And here I go again... June is here, and with it my yearly entry into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)'s Poetry Contest. They also have ones for Non-Fiction and Short Stories, but I think most wistfully over the one devoted to poetry. First, the deadlines are always the same, this one coming just as summer is about to begin (one of the coldest days in Montréal, but still). Second, I feel like I do my best work at the end of the semester with the pressure of term work and grading taken away and placed on someone else's back.
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Writers
The Effin' Life
Now this was an effin’ great book! There is so much about this memoir that I want to share with you, but let’s get some basics out of the way: I am a fan. It was not always a guarantee that I would love the best Canadian rock and roll group of all time (and is that hyperbole?). I was born in the inner city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to working-class immigrant parents from the Caribbean. A rock and roll group that wrote songs about a future where music would become illegal and titled certain tracks as “By-Tor and the Snow Dog” or “Solar Federation” would not be popular with a generation devoted to soca, zouk and kompa (look those up). It was not until we moved to the suburbs that I discovered that the older brothers of the boys in the schoolyard – always the boys only – had copies of the best years of Rush.
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Geeks
Running Man Press
It was a dark and rainy day... Okay, apologies over the whole 'It was a dark and stormy night' cliché, but I discovered over the Victoria Day weekend that one of my stories became front page news in a journal called the Running Man Press. The interesting thing is that I had almost forgotten that I had written and submitted the piece (the editor who said that he would inform me of the date of publication never contacted me about the issue). I have also discovered that it is not available online (the page I found advertised how to submit, the fact that they only print 5000 copies per issues - a smart idea, I think - and that they have many wonderful t-shirts and other doodads available to support their cause).
By Kendall Defoe 9 months ago in Writers
