Author Archives: jaurquhart

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About jaurquhart

Jack Andrew Urquhart was born in the American South. Following undergraduate work at the University of Florida, Gainesville, he taught in Florida's public schools. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English, Creative Writing, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was the winner of the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Award for Fiction (1991). His work has appeared online at Clapboard House Literary Journal, Crazyhorse Literary Journal, and Standards: The International Journal of Multicultural Studies. He is the author of So They Say, a collection of self-contained, inter-connected stories and the short story, They Say You Can Stop Yourself Breathing. Formerly a writing instructor at the University of Colorado’s Writing Program, Mr. Urquhart was, until 2010, a senior analyst for the Judicial Branch of California. He resides in Washington State.

As real as ever, by @jackaurquhart

In Memoriam, Dillon Tyler Urquhart, 3.08.1979 – 8.02.2013 ©2013 by Jack A. Urquhart  370 words Dear Dillon, Dear Son, You are much on my mind today. It has been 72 days now.  You’d think that would be long enough, wouldn’t … Continue reading

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Indie Authors: Yakkers, Tweeters, Braggers? Is that all there is to us? by @JackAUrquhart

©2013 by Jack A. Urquhart   2177 words “To me, it seems disrespectful … that a ‘wannabe’ assumes it’s all so easy s/he can put out a ‘published novel’ without bothering to read, study, or do the research … Self-publishing is … Continue reading

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A Rocky Mountain Lullaby (For Dillon), by @jackaurquhart

©2013 by Jack A. Urquhart     (1115 words) September 17, 2013 Dear Dillon, Dear Son, I have been thinking about your early years, trying to remember some of the salient moments of your childhood, events that seem conspicuous in terms of … Continue reading

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One Month, by @jackaurquhart

©2013 by Jack A. Urquhart, 680 words September 2, 2013 Dear Dillon, Dear Son, It is one month today since you left us, since you died in a Seattle hospital with your mother and I standing at your bedside.  Oh … Continue reading

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Word Wishes for Dillon, Wherever He May Be … by @jackaurquhart

©2013                                       390 words “Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.  Do any human beings ever realize life while … Continue reading

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Lost or Found, Relative or Fake: My brush with Indigence, by @JackAUrquhart

©2013  980 words There has never been a time when I didn’t worry about money. I write that sentence understanding full well that I know nothing of abject poverty.  Indeed, pecuniary anxieties, when they’ve come my way, have been the … Continue reading

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A Letter to 5 Cowardly U.S. Senators, by @JackAUrquhart

April 18, 2013 Honorable Max Baucus (D-Montana) Honorable Mark Begich (D-Alaska) Honorable Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) Honorable Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) Honorable Marco Rubio (R-Florida) United States Senate, Washington, DC Senators, I am writing to express my disappointment, indeed, my sorrow, … Continue reading

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Out-of-Order Moments: A Shortlist, From my Youth, by @jackaurquhart

(Inspired by WordPress Daily Prompt, 4.14.2013: The Satisfaction of a List) ©2013  1100 words 1.  Apopka, Florida 1950-something:  I never know how to begin, so I just blurt it out—say that I want to plant flowers.  My aunt smirks at … Continue reading

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The Keeper of the Flame, by @JackAUrquhart

©2013    1350 words This is a decades-old photo of my paternal grandmother.  She was in her early nineties and still living in her Central Florida home.  That’s my daughter Devon she’s holding; I think Dev was about 18 months old … Continue reading

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My Florida … ambivalence (in words and pictures) by @JackAUrquhart

© 2013   (670 words) It’s three years this month (March) since my partner Raymond and I moved to Florida from our former home in the San Francisco Bay Area.  It wasn’t a move either of us sought, but, rather, one … Continue reading

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