About Me

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e. l . wood is a native of birmingham, alabama. he grew up on the urban streets of dallas, texas before attending college at houston baptist university where he earned a b. a. in english and psychology. after a year of teaching high school english in the public schools of houston, e. l. wood attended sam houston state university where he earned a master’s degree in english. after bouncing around the deep south for several years, he finished his ph. d. in american literature before 1900 at the university of southern mississippi. e. l. wood has been teaching in some capacity since 1992 and has taught for a local community college since 1995. in his spare time, e.l. wood enjoys reading, movies, and the outdoors. he is personally acquainted with several search and rescue teams around the southeast. he is married to the lovely and gracious a. c. they have a daughter (special k), and one dog. They reside in h'burg, deep south. in addition to being the sole proprietor of the gandy dancer billiard parlor, e. l. wood dabbles in folk art and the occasional cultivation of a handlebar mustache.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

"winning, you know . . . it's like better than losing."




i’ve always been a big fan of kevin costner through thick (dances with wolves and seven academy awards; small indie films like a perfect world; quotable masterpieces such as bull durham; classics like field of dreams; and thrillers like mr. brooks) and thin (robin hood, prince of thieves; alright, even i couldn’t quite stomach water world; but i staunchly maintain that the postman is one of the most underrated films of all time – if you’re brave enough – try it again).

but regardless of his films' successes or failures, i’ve typically been pretty impressed with the guy. his work ethic always seems commendable and his passion always seems infectious and genuine. he's not afraid to fail, and, consequently, this leads to some huge successes.

it seems costner may be close to another success. since the exxon valdez spill in 1989, costner was convinced that there had to be a better way to address oil spills. so, over the last 15 years and $20 million of his own money later, costner's ocean therapy solutions has developed a working centrifuge machine that can separate oil from water at the rate of 2,000 barrels a day. it is going to take this sort of of innovation, determination, and self reliance to clean up the gulf coast.

it can be done. and we can do it.

in the words of president obama, “What the public wants to see is us solving this problem. And that may not make for good TV.”

he's right.

mr. president, there are lots of folks like costner with lots of workable ideas who would love to be put in the game.

so - put us in coach.

we're ready to play.

today.





Perdido Pass, Orange Beach, AL

Thursday, June 10, 2010

trends




























over the last several years, may tends to be a down month for writing blogs, what with summer festivities going on all. but, looking over last year's may blog, i got warm fuzzies noting that one entry dealt with the fact that the texas rangers were in first place. a rarity in my 40 years as a fan.

but, as i write this on this beautiful may afternoon, i can say for the second season in a row, the rangers are in first place. again, it may be but for a temporal moment, but i'll take it.

i love what nolan ryan is doing for the philosophy of how baseball should be played in texas. pitching, defense. the little things. even we lose, it seems prettier that when were were living for the long ball to miraculously bail us out in the 80's and 90's.

so - go get 'em boys! thanks for two great summers in a row!