Stranger Than Fiction

By Daniel Dunkle

Additional Column Posts (1 - 20 of 43) Next Page

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  40 black balloons go by

  By Daniel Dunkle - Feb 15
  I sat in my office holding a black balloon, trying to remember the quiet way to let the air out. Copy Editor Kim, one of the co-conspirators, told ...
  

• If only...

  By Daniel Dunkle - Jan 18
  At some point in the coming days or weeks or months, Rockland city leaders, police and school officials are expected to meet to talk about ways to ...
  

• All the best things

  By Daniel Dunkle - Dec 20
  There was an older man in line in front of me at the Owls Head church supper. I had never met him before, so he grinned and stuck out his hand to ...
  

• Down in front

  By Daniel Dunkle - Nov 29
  This always happens. Wesley and I get to the movie theater early, pick out our seats and settle in to see “Life of Pi” in 3-D. When we arrive, no ...
  

• Sweating the small stuff election week

  By Daniel Dunkle - Nov 15
  It’s been an interesting, amazing, exciting, exhausting, crazy week. Last Tuesday was Election Day, as you know. Half of you, so happy to have it ...
  
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  The girl in the Rocket 88

  By Daniel Dunkle - Nov 02
  One of the fun things I get to do at work each week is pick out a history photo for the editorial page. When we first opened the newspaper back up ...
  

• In stitches

  By Daniel Dunkle - Oct 18
  It's almost Halloween, so I think I can get away with telling you a kind of scary story. But be warned, those who venture beyond this hackneyed ...
  
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  A stone for Cleo

  By Daniel Dunkle - Jul 05
  I was walking down my road a few weeks ago just after dark. "Cleo?" I called for my little black cat. I would cluck my tongue and make little ...
  

• The day the lights went out in Rockland

  By Daniel Dunkle - May 17
  Even though it was a Saturday, I had a lot to do for the newspaper. I had scheduled myself for weekend duty because Saturday night was the big ...
  

• Not for all the tea in Portland

  By Daniel Dunkle - May 03
  "Would you like a free sample?" I was ambling along in the Portland Mall when I heard these words, and my mind conjured all kinds of tasty ...
  

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  Papa's garage

  By Daniel Dunkle - Jan 31
  One of my earliest memories is Uncle Peter tearing across the lawn behind the parsonage where my grandfather lived back in the late '70s. This was ...
  

• Winter like the old days

  By Daniel Dunkle - Jan 03
  When I stepped out the door and almost slipped down the steps, I could see that this was a real winter. In recent years, people have talked a lot ...
  

• Powerball fever

  By Daniel Dunkle - Dec 06
  I don't usually buy lottery tickets. I remember watching my old man go through this when I was a kid. Dad had set numbers that he played each ...
  

• The crime scene

  By Daniel Dunkle - Nov 23
  When I come home from work some nights, I feel like one of those investigators from CSI. I can essentially piece together what has gone down at ...
  

• How to survive a 7-year-old's birthday party

  By Daniel Dunkle - Nov 09
  When grownups arrive at their friends' homes, unless they are in a reality TV program, it would typically be viewed as strange for them to throw ...
  

• Memory lane

  By Daniel Dunkle - Oct 26
  I sat with the car idling in front of a stranger's house for the longest time, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. There was a little patch ...
  

• Rockland — it's not just pretty on the outside

  By Daniel Dunkle - Jul 12
  In the winter, when the sky is gray day after day and the cold aches in my bones, I ask Christine why we can't move to some tropical island. Even ...
  
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  Blame it on the big dig

  By Daniel Dunkle - May 31
  Whenever Christine or I get back from the store, we say, “Did you remember to get the...” and then mention the one thing we forgot to get. It's ...
  

• The dance of the dead squirrel

  By Daniel Dunkle - May 09
  The first step toward freedom is finding your voice. That's what I've learned from my cat, Spazzy McSpazitron (A.K.A., Cleo Catra). The other day, ...
  
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  Talk to the paw

  By Daniel Dunkle - Apr 26
  Last week, about this time, I was sitting right here at the computer writing about unplugging my bathroom drain. While this was a somewhat modest ...