Honk Journal

13/07/2025

Not one! Not two! But THREE vintage Wichitarchaeology columns are up now for FREE at Honk Journal! Click the link:

https://honkjournal.com/tag/wichitarchaeology

20/03/2025

NEW HONK FOR ALL! I was a Gen X paperboy.

The last American paperboy

26/02/2025

HEY HONKERINOS! AN UPDATE.

Several new written pieces are in the works and at least one will drop at HonkJournal.com in the days to come. Thanks eternally to those Honk Plus supporters hanging in there while they gestate.

As a much younger person I thought it was funny that there was a stripe of writer called a "memoirist," as to my way of thinking, once a person had written their autobiography, what was left to tell? But then, as a teen, I fell into the Beats via Jack Kerouac, whose many novels are each drawn from his own experiences. Hunter Thompson popped up for me around the same time, too, and had a similar effect on my thinking: Though the work of these authors is fictionalized, and not really direct memoir, it still illustrated to me how a person could make a whole life out of just being open to a wide range of human experience, and then writing it down to share with others.

I'm now nearly a decade older than Jack was when he died (and about a decade younger than HST), and surely have lived through at least a dozen distinct periods in my own life. I have stories miles deep, and any time I worry the well may run dry, I flash back to a long-packed-away recollection of something that unlocks a complete set of memories, like finding one's childhood set of baseball cards perfectly preserved, if perhaps a bit yellowed, in a closet in the old family home. I have material to last a lifetime of writing.

Perhaps counterintuitively, the passage of time adds flavor and color to these stories, as when I describe the world I grew up in back in the 1970s and '80s, it looks and feels vastly different from the one my young sons occupy today. All my stories have been rendered period pieces. I'm working on one right now about the four years I spent as an adolescent, delivering the local small-town newspaper six days a week on bicycle or foot. That used to be a de rigeur first job for kids, but now I'm not sure it even still exists at all. "Like sands through the hourglass..."

At any rate, I just want to let those of you who follow my work — especially those who support it with paid Honk Plus membership — that I forever appreciate your interest, your feedback, your kindness and your love. I struggle a lot these days, and you legitimately help sustain both my will to keep on going and literally my ability to remain housed. I can never ever thank you enough.

With love always,
MC

PS: Here's a piece I published one year ago this week, regarding the sad demolition of my childhood bowling alley. Enjoy!

You can't roll home again

15/01/2025

In which our author floats in space — 650 feet underground.

Exploring inner space deep beneath the prairie

01/01/2025

One last new memoir piece for 2024! "Me and Jesus: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Void" is available for Honk subscribers' reading enjoyment right now! Happy New Year, folks!

http://honkjournal.com/the-hands-of-god

12/12/2024

Hey, Honkerinos... A new piece is imminent! Your patience is super appreciated during this time, as I have been getting some extra freelance work in, taking care of family/holiday obligations and recovering from a nasty respiratory virus that stole two weeks from me. Stay tuned and THANKS as always for your continuing support.

14/10/2024

NEW HONK PLUS PIECE JUST DROPPED! "Used Cars: A Gearhead's Path Through Life" is the followup to "Fifty Ways to Leave Wherever," and together they tell the story of every single vehicle I have ever owned — 50 in all! Paid members check it out at https://honkjournal.com/used-cars now!

As a bonus, I have made part one of this story FREE TO EVERYONE! Just click here to read: https://honkjournal.com/fifty-ways-to-leave-wherever

15/09/2024

Happy heavenly birthday to Wichita music legend Rudy Love. Here's the Honk Journal tribute to the man, complete with a custom playlist of some of his finest work!

Farewell to a sorely overlooked man of music

17/08/2024

NEW HONK MEMBERS-ONLY PIECE IS LIVE NOW! "Fifty Ways to Leave Wherever" is the story of my life as a gearhead, as told via a catalog of all FIFTY vehicles I have owned since my teens in the 1980s. This is only the first half, the second will drop ASAP. Honk Plus suscribers check it out now — and the rest of you, sign up today! There are many other memoir pieces there, only accessible to paid members, and your subscription literally keeps the lights on in our house. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING HONK!

honkjournal.com/fifty-ways-to-leave-wherever

14/06/2024

It's a whole other world of flavor.

My life as a supertaster

10/05/2024

Influential musician and recording engineer Steve Albini died unexpectedly of a heart attack yesterday at the age of 61. His sonic legacy is vast and deep, and just barely scraping the surface of his work, Honk Journal has put together a playlist of songs he recorded — 140 tunes in all, every single one by a different artist.

Indie rock's resident grouch changed the sound of modern music

29/02/2024

New piece up now at Honk Journal! It's called "Hey! Let's Go Bowling!" and it's only available to paid Honk Plus subscribers. Check it out! https://honkjournal.com/hey-lets-go-bowling