Category Archives: Published Articles

Writer’s Block

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeff Rembert was posted by Ghost Parachute: A Literary Magazine on its website under Blog on May 20, 2020.

You’re staring at the screen, and you’ve got nothing. Your mind is a void. You type random words and hope a coherent sentence emerges. Still nothing. Your cat gives it a shot with words of her invention and does so with steadfast confidence. Still incoherent, but your cat doesn’t care. Your frustration continues unabated. In your cat’s eyes, you’re simply a dog. Good luck with that.

Futile efforts, cat judgement, emptiness of thought and desire are common. The origin of this state of inability remains unknown to scientists, literary professors and writing coaches. Politicians blame Belgium. Your father blames your mother’s side of the family. Your mother says something about a real father. While theories fail to adequately explain the malady, it continues to rage through writing communities, literary groups and freelance sweatshops.

And no one is immune. You have what some call writer’s block.

Writer’s block affects the young and old, the experienced and inexperienced, short story writers and novelists, romantic writers and fantasy apocalyptic authors (same thing), English undergrads and MFAs. Writer’s block doesn’t recognize borders, culture, race or political parties. It affects those with and without the latest technology. Starbucks patrons are particularly susceptible.

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Keep Up Tradition

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Editor’s Note: Writing a goodbye column was a tradition at The University Daily, the campus paper at Texas Tech University. And I probably wrote mine in a huff. Too many ads. Not enough editorial space. Why my editor, Inez Russell, didn’t calf-tie me and leave me in a forgotten barn, I’ll never know. Thank you for not finding the keys to the school van. From the May 4, 1982, edition of the UD, a long-seasoned vanity piece.

HIGHWAY 84 – I guess it’s time to shut the book on an era. The wild and carefree columns of the past will make like my grade point and fade away. No more columns about filling 32 inches of space in the newspaper. No more columns about Tech students going on strike demanding easier courses and less-stringent grading policies. Even Ol’ Dusty may have seen his last Tech-Arkansas football game.

Tradition is dying out, folks.

Despite claims by the Latin faculty, I’m not very old. But when you’re 21 and have four years of higher learning tucked away in a copy of Sports Illustrated, some of the newer students look upon you as if you were Will Rogers’ statue – a Tech fixture. The baseball players can’t imagine anyone but you covering their team, and the other sports writers can’t remember when anyone but you finished last in Fearless Forecasters.

But how old can you be when you’re in college. The life is as carefree as you’ll ever experience. I can remember when Tech had a winning football team. When the basketball team participated in post-season tournaments. When a night of intramural basketball was spent at the Intramural Gym. And when Applause was one of the hottest clubs in Lubbock.

Now my catalog tells me I have enough hours to graduate, so I should leave Tech and make something of myself. Administration said I should grow up while I was at it. I was grown up when I entered college. I just regressed as the years progressed.

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Why Start A Literary Group?

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeff Rembert was posted by GHOST PARACHUTE – A LITERARY MAGAZINE on its website under Blog on December 20, 2019.

You’re new to the writing game. Someone in your past said you had talent, but life got in the way. Family, career, bills and discouragement kept you away from the keyboard. Only recently you made the commitment to sidestep obstacles and put your thoughts on paper. You’ve a laptop, ideas and a dream. You’ll carve out time. But the quest can be lonely, frustrating, mind-numbing, for anonymity and solitude lay in your path. You need a community of like-minded individuals.

It’s common for newbie writers to seek guidance from the experienced and support from those also getting started. But getting five minutes of productive conversation from authors at book festivals is problematic. Holiday meals with family, after bringing up your burgeoning writing career, results in encouragement yet no real understanding. Aunt Gracie is impressed but her writing career fizzled high school senior year. Rather than retreat crestfallen to your study and labors, perhaps you form a community. A hybrid. A combination writing group and an open mic.

After a career in journalism and public relations, and years away from the keyboard, I discovered a friend was a closeted writer. No one knew outside his family, and his efforts focused on fictitious holiday updates. We learned in the ensuing years he’s a talented comedic writer with a gift for dialogue and off-beat characters. But at first, upon learning of each other’s desire to write, we spent coffee hours simply discussing the craft and sharing our efforts. And once we learned all we could from one another we sought the input of other writers. Those writers seeking a group where we could share ideas and inspiration. Perhaps collaborate.

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2016: The Election That Never Ends

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeffrey Rembert was posted by FORWARD Florida on its website under Blog on July 19, 2017.

First Meeting of Presidential Advisory Commission on Election

Just when we thought the plot lines couldn’t get crazier. Just when we swore the name Kris Kobach never would trend on Twitter, we get a J. Jonah Jameson dream scenario. The 2016 presidential election results are being called into question. By the winner.

In the words of Kobach, vice chairman of the commission that’s looking into voter fraud, we “may never know” if Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote. Or so he said Wednesday to MSNBC after the commission’s first hearing. If that’s the case we then may never know if Donald Trump actually won the Electoral College.

Lest we forget, the White House is occupied by a realty television star who uses social media with the zeal of a clique-conscious teen. “Modern Day Presidential” is the way he describes his penchant to tweet when on the attack or on the defense. And though his approach could be described as a shrewd use of the radio and television of the 21st century, our fascination with social media con-tent has led to a precipitous drop in our country’s IQ.

We’re now distracted by fake magazine covers adorning the walls of Mar-a-Lago, comments about a newscaster’s plastic surgery and the president’s professional wrestling greatest hits. What is he going to do or say next? How will the Congress react? While these incidents are extensions of our need to read tabloid headlines while standing in the checkout line, they should give us, as it does our allies, pause and consideration to what’s going on in Washington.

For there’s one troubling issue that is getting too little attention. No, we’re not talking about pageant contestants locking their doors to the leering eyes, groping hands of celebrities. We’re talking about an issue that should cause every-one, no matter their political ideology, to say enough is enough.

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Journalism: No More Funny Business

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeffrey Rembert was posted by FORWARD Florida on its website under Blog on July 6, 2017.

Trump, Flamingos and Provocateurs

Today’s politics is like a daily trip to the circus with clowns piling out of the car. There’s seemingly no end. A social studies exercise gone awry. The joke keeps on giving, and everyone is in on the joke.

So how does one stand alone?  Set themselves apart when everyone is telling the same joke.  Then it occurred to me.  I was lookin’ for humor in all the wrong places. Lookin’ for humor in too many faces. Searchin’ their eyes. Lookin’ for traces … And that was just a televised White House press briefing.

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Then I heard an all too familiar voice booming from the corner office of the newsroom. And it wasn’t Johnny Lee. And she didn’t need a mic.

“No more mister nice guy. The gloves are off. Call us fake news. Call us enemy of the American people. Body slam our reporters. Well, that party is over.” My publisher was in a touchy mood.

Two things could explain her outburst. One, either the Keurig was broken. Or two, some hapless journalist was caught staring out the window. So I took another sip of my coffee, as I brought my own, and closed the blinds. Hard to concentrate on a black bear cub mauling a pink flamingo yard ornament across the street when files are being thrashed about the newsroom.

“We’ve been playing it safe way too long. Let’s make everyone happy. Let’s bring people together. Let’s support the military industrial complex,” then she took a deep breath. “How about let’s not? No more goody two shoes. No more dear sweet Pollyanna. I want edgy. I want controversial. I want provocative.” Read more →

Clinton, Trump Eye the Florida Prize

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeffrey Rembert was posted by FORWARD Florida on its website under Legislative on August 11, 2016.

Late-night comedians have spent the better part of the past decade and a half ribbing the Sunshine State’s electoral mishaps and for good reason.  Even our well-heeled counties have found ways to offer comedic fodder with voters misunderstanding the mechanics of voting and creating embarrassing delays in Election Day vote tabulation.  But comedy aside, based on the numbers and the state’s recent refusal to be labeled electorally either red or blue, Florida is the most important state in the upcoming presidential election.

Of the top seven most populous states, all but two have consistently given their electoral votes to the same party, election after election, since 2000. And of these behemoths of population and electoral votes, Florida and Ohio are the only states to accurately select the past four winners.  California and Texas?  Locks respectively in the Democrat and Republican columns.  New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania?  Though Pennsylvania claims diversity in its voting ranks, all three states have gone Democrat since 2000.

Florida and Ohio remain electoral powerhouses of no certain allegiance but one is more so than the other.  Read more →

Royalties and Rivalries

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeffrey Rembert was posted by FORWARD Florida on its website under Sports on November 20, 2015.

Ever find yourself defending a group whose traditions and sense of loyalty give you pause to reconsider a high colonic and Justin Bieber? If so, you feel the agony, my friend. Either you dislike Texas A&M as much as I do or you harbor a dislike for another college football program. Perhaps the Gators or the Seminoles? How about the Knights or the Bulls? Do the ‘Canes get under your skin?

In the coming weeks college football gets down to serious business with rivalry games. “They need the dough” games versus FCS liberal arts schools have satisfied the bloodlust of boosters. Fans now will revel in the contrived enmity of the blue and orange (Florida), scarlet and gold (Florida State), orange and green (Miami and Florida A&M), black and gold (UCF), green and gold (USF), blue and red (Florida Atlantic), blue and gold (FIU) and maroon and gold (Bethune-Cookman).

And don’t think athletic departments haven’t figured out how to cash in.

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Florida Takes Center Stage at GOP Debate

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Editor’s Note: The following story by Jeffrey Rembert was posted by FORWARD Florida on its website as a Blog on September 21, 2015.

Was there anyone left in Florida last Wednesday night? Or, was the state’s entire population at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley for the second Republican primary debate? Ok, so that was an exaggeration. Only the 35% of the state’s voters, those registered as Republicans, attended. More on that soon enough.

With The Walking Dead television marathon unavailable, I devoted my Wednesday evening to the debate. And after more than four hours of watching 15 candidates squabble over issues while a 16th candidate, with an approval rating consisting of his wife and three fishing buddies, watched from his Virginia basement, I can attest little differs between the CNN “reality show” and a zombie apocalypse.

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