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Independent, Reader-Supported Publishing
Sparrow
Sparrow lives in Phoenicia, New York. His most recent book, Small Happiness & Other Epiphanies, includes some of his pieces from The Sun. You can follow him on X: @Sparrow14.
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Beyond Belief
The first instruction was “Find a quiet place.” I went to Inwood Park and seated myself on a large rock, legs crossed, eyes closed. Immediately an airplane flew overhead. I stood up, walked a hundred yards deeper into the park, sat beside a tree, and again closed my eyes. This time I heard traffic from the Henry Hudson Parkway. Over and over I sat down, each time encountering a new distraction. Defeated, I walked home.
September 2014
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
My Mice
My home is a double-wide trailer in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. Each fall mice sneak into my house, attracted by the warmth. I know they’re here when I see their feces in my kitchen.
June 2014
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Imaginary Friends
As a child I had imaginary friends. So did my daughter. Is it possible that my daughter’s imaginary friends were the children of mine?
May 2014
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
My Life In Vegetables
I became a vegetarian in September 1971 after meeting a man wearing a white robe during orientation week at Cornell University. I saw this saintlike figure reposing on a hill, staring at a tree. Curious, I approached; he told me his name was Peter and begged me to sit. Soon he was explaining the Essene Gospel of Peace.
September 2013
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
It Is No Longer Necessary To Write Novels
I think it was Jorge Luis Borges who said that it was no longer necessary to write novels; it was sufficient to write the review of the novel. I say it’s no longer necessary to write novels; you may just write the first line.
April 2013
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
The Winter Of My Discontent
January 10: My wife and I recently moved from suburban New Jersey back to the heart of New York’s Catskill Mountains: the town of Phoenicia. It’s difficult returning here in winter. Everyone we meet has a lost, distracted look, as if they’ve already watched their entire video collection twice and now spend their evenings staring up at the spot where two walls meet the ceiling.
March 2013
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Fifteen Ways To Survive The Coming Collapse Of Civilization
Everyone knows that Western civilization (and probably Eastern civilization too) will collapse on December 21, 2012. The Mayans predicted it, and the Mayans have never been wrong. The question is: how will you survive? The answer is simple.
December 2012
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Please Don’t Vote For Me
The Right claims that Occupy Wall Street is secretly dominated by anarchists, but the real inner cabal is composed of smart academics. This movement has learned from all the failed activism of the last forty years. In the 1960s young hippies attempted to overthrow the established order, but their values were completely opposed to those of the working class. Now the young hippies have signs that say, We Are the 99%. (Besides, the working class is no longer scared of long hair.) The Occupiers also refuse to be pushed to the left. They don’t attack capitalism or even the war in Afghanistan. They just say over and over, “Why did they bail out the banks but not us?”
November 2012
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Poor Sparrow’s Almanac
I vowed to write a new series of proverbs to counteract Franklin’s and free Americans from busyness and worry. My goal is to assemble an army of daydreamers.
August 2012
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
The Hurricane
I write this at my parents’ home in Brooklyn as Hurricane Irene is approaching. Citizens are flocking to stores, buying out shelves of food. The mayor and the governor are issuing stern warnings. The television is talking nonstop, calling it a “monster storm,” measuring its winds at 105 miles per hour. This may be the “Storm of the Century.”
May 2012
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