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:
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J.
Note: This story was one that I completed as an undergraduate. The rule was we had to take one line from two separate books and use them at the beginning and at the end of the story (that may explain the strange quotations included in this piece - I do not remember the names of the books used).
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Fiction
Supellectilem Cladis!
As of 5:15 AM this morning, I have stopped being a consumer of flatpack products from that Swedish company. I did not expect to have such a dramatic epiphany, but I realize now that I should have seen the signs earlier. And when you hear my story, you will understand my decision.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
Nobel-ling It
It is now a very cold day in January, and there seems to be some talk about the Super Bowl and the eventual winners and losers of the great American grudge match. I really do not care for big sports events, excluding the Stanley Cup (mostly for the joy of seeing the Toronto Maple Leafs once again refuse to accept their pathetic nature and just suffer properly in the regular season). But there is one event that I do look forward to every autumn. This is the Nobel Prize season, a week taken out of October to both disturb and annoy those few who still care.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Writers
Nocturnal
“You gotta listen to your dad. No is a no.” That was his mother, but he was not really listening anymore. When he heard the old man snoring next to his mother in the next room, he knew that his time had come. There was a space between his bedroom window and the abandoned field that he could cross in about two minutes (ledge, barrel, grass) and then there would be time to make it out to the building.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Fiction
The Mattress Jump
With a new year comes the set of promises that we all make and call resolutions. We resolve to do things like lose weight, eat right, read more, change jobs, find a loving relationship, or simply give up something. My own set of resolutions was very simple: get a new phone (done); exercise more (already on my way with jogging, yoga and other exercises); take a chance on relationships (Covid-19 has made this a very interesting challenge). But there was one other thing that I decided to do and have had planned in my mind for more than a year: a new bed.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Confessions
The Seven Types of Cold
As a Canadian, I am often asked, “Why?” This question, of course, confuses me until I realize that the person who poses it wants a clear answer about the weather. Over the last week, winter has asserted itself in my adopted hometown of Hampstead, Quebec (a Montreal suburb with more quiet than I deserve). Ice is now hidden under a dusting of snow, and it is very hard to take a step without the feeling that you are about to connect to pavement and asphalt in a very painful and intimate way. I do understand why the question exists.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Humans
Being a True Account of a Return to My Home during the 2022 Winter Holidays
Based on the response to my last piece on a trip to my hometown, a lot of readers were interested in my account of the bus, train and taxi journey, so I have decided to follow it up with material from the other end of things. I spent two very long weeks in my hometown, never venturing downtown – nothing to see except more urban decay, former stores and spots which I used to enjoy now shuttered and abandoned, and the old and continually new problem of homelessness – or even venturing to most of the homes and relatives I had promised myself to patronize. It was not a very festive moment, and I could even feel the lack of zeal in our home. For the first time, my mother decided not to put up the tree or any decorations around the house. We only kept lights on in front to keep up appearances, but it was clear that my stay was just like any other free time in my life when I did not have a holiday to celebrate or work to do. My days were filled with jogging, reading, trips to the mall (surprisingly, a bright spot in all of this and something that might deserve its own piece), too much television surfing, not enough writing, and plans for my return home (I knew things were bad when I decided to pack two days early for the trip back).
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Wander
Autobiology
I woke up from the most relaxing sleep to realize that it had happened again. Now, usually, I would adjust to the change in circumstances by learning my function and trying to be quiet, tame, polite and even inconspicuous (a good word; a word that I was learning to use more and more often when I was on my own). But this felt a little bit different.
By Kendall Defoe 4 years ago in Fiction
