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 (826)
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Kendallisms
It’s another week of teaching, and I am stuck in front of my laptop trying to avoid marking anything. It is Saturday night, and I still think that I am taking a chance by avoiding all the grading I have ahead of me. But some things cannot wait. I am dealing with the stress of the college and the request that I add more to a schedule that simply cannot take it. My mind needs to clear itself of a lot of detritus and this is the best way I can think of, besides the guitar and the promise to learn how to draw. All that can wait. This has to come out.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Confessions
Seeing and Not Seeing. Top Story - September 2024.
Another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody… He was thinking of the same damn song every weekend now. The quarantine and the curfew were things he could get used to; there was a bit of luck in having a condo in the downtown core. At least it was in a part of town without his company's handiwork. It was a perfect example of cinema right in front of him (Hitchcock be damned), all silent and distant. So, he thought, I just needed to add a song.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Chapters
Cul-de-sac
My house is at the end of the street, really a cul-de-sac, so when I used to play outside we were surrounded by all of those neighbours we knew for years, and the kids were all the ones who lived around there and knew each other. It was perfect for all of us and then it was not. It all got ruined and I better tell someone why it happened (why I am telling you, I do not know, but…)
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Fiction
The Newbie
Well, welcome on board… You here for the summer? Cool… I’ve been on for three years now and it ain’t so bad on the night shifts. You get people who are chilled out and there’s less to clean up. Actually the best time to be here; just don’t say anything to anyone about it. Keep that a secret. We don't want to let too many people know about it.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Fiction
Top Stories vs. Challenges
Another Challenge done; another disappointment to swallow… I sometimes wonder if I want to win one of these Challenges. As I wrote before, I feel that winning one is a wonderful experience…but it also puts a target on your back. It is akin to winning the lottery: friends turn into enemies; you begin to wonder what you did that one time to get the laurel crown; the pressure to repeat yourself grows. I say this about both the top winners and the runners-up. I have admired and read too many of them to feel like I should be jealous…and yet…I have to wonder…
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Lifehack
Royalmount Mall
I was not really in the mood for this, but I could not let it pass. On Thursday, September 5th, 2024, Montreal found itself with a new mall, the Royalmount, located near De la Savane Metro on the Orange Line. I had checked out the site on Google Maps and it suggested at least five routes that would require a bus and a bit of walking from the Metro, but I never had to consider them after learning about the Skywalk, the walkway over Décarie Boulevard that would take visitors to the mall. And I did not want to go on opening day after a long day of work. I wanted to go on a weekend when the crowds would be at their thickest and I could see just how many of my fellow Montrealers were interested in the spot. And full confession: I used to live within almost walking distance of the mall. I thought that this might be a good way for me to get back to my old stomping ground, and Saturday seemed like the perfect moment.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Styled
Meter Maid
He was inside and I could see his nervous buddy tapping the steering wheel when I pointed at the meter and told him that if he got there about an hour later he would have been okay and I wouldn't have to take down his information, but he didn't even see me at all (did he?). And then I looked over at the store that just closed and could see the other one inside under the security lights. So, I could see him through those double thick glass windows loading up as he walked around the store, his bag on his back getting bigger and bigger and no one noticing a thing about him taking everything and anything he wanted (was anyone even working? no security?) And there I was with the car and he just ran out to his buddy waiting for him without really noticing me and the ticket I just put under the windshield. At least it was still there and I had a copy of it all for the police (the security camera would help too, but that was under the lights, but my ticket was probably better for them). Sometimes this job really does make you feel like you are spreading some sort of goodness in this world. Pay your tickets!
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Fiction
In the Underground City
Note: this is based on a true story. I was walking through Montréal's La Ville Souterraine (The Underground City) during a very cold winter. A woman approached me from a side tunnel and asked me to walk with her because she had been threatened by someone following her. I was only in there because of the weather, and I had my doubts that she was telling the truth...until I saw the man. For the challenge, we are supposed to write our story from another point of view. I will try to enter the head of the one who was following her.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Psyche
Tea Break
“I never take sugar with my tea, Mary…” She had been saying the same thing for ages, but the tea set came with the sugar bowl and creamer, and she was always going to make sure that her friends knew this. The table in the backyard had all of the necessities Andrea would use as a guest (napkins, multiple spoons and forks, saucers).She knew that her friends would be there with one making a specific request, and Mary had the tray ready for them, and nothing that Andrea could say would prevent her from her little routine.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Fiction
