Author: Eric Margerum

Margerumalia – Bullying

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 20, 2026

It was just before the Seventh Grade Basketball try-outs.

I joined the dozens of other boys under one of the baskets hoping to catch a rebound and have a chance to try a shot. But I never even touched a ball. There were just too many guys and most of them were taller than me.

Off to the side I saw a single tall boy shooting a single basketball at a single hoop. So I walked over to him, watched him shoot several times and then caught the ball when it came to me.

He put out his hands. “Gimme it.” 

“I want to shoot it,” I said. 

He stepped closer and jammed his knee into my crotch, taking the ball when I crumpled to the floor. He went back to shooting while I rolled on the floor in agony and surprise. No one had ever done that to me before.

And no one, NO ONE, made any effort to see if I was okay.

A few minutes later everyone was called over to the edge of the gym to hear the instructions for the try-outs. I pulled myself from the floor and staggered over to join them. I was embarrassed because the other boys and the coaches were acting like nothing had happened.

I’d always been an outgoing kid with a smile for everyone, so this was a completely new experience. I knew my name would be among the first ones cut from the roster, but was I crazy? He kneed me in the balls!

I was grateful not to make the team. Who wants that?

Bullying was not a problem for me. I pretty much got along with everyone. Thank goodness I found my place and my people in the Junior High Follies where I auditioned to be an emcee and four girls who were auditioning as a group invited me to join them. The five of us emceed together and introduced each act with a short skit of our own creation. Think Saturday Night Live before SNL even began. 

Fast forward about twenty years to Los Angeles. My agent sent me to audition for a Sprite commercial where they lined us up in front of big bright lights in a gymnasium and told us to boogie to the music they played. Okay, sounds fun. 

I was placed at the end of the line and when the music began I put on my best party face and danced. Until the tall guy next to me shoved me off the line and into the dark where I stumbled and stood stunned. This kind of thing hadn’t happened since junior high! 

And no one. NO ONE made any effort to see if I was okay.

I rejoined the line and tried my best to smile for the camera but my heart wasn’t in it. And I was watching everything the creep next to me did to make sure I wouldn’t get shoved again. I was embarrassed because everyone else was acting like nothing had happened.

Let’s be clear. Despite what certain people say, might does NOT make right. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

The tech bros who spout off about moving fast and breaking things are forgetting that people get hurt when you break things.

It takes so very little to say, “Hey, are you okay?” That’s what human beings are set on this Earth to do. That’s why we say humane when someone treats someone well, and inhumane when they don’t.

Don’t tell me we need to teach more civics in school. It takes a civil society to do that. Teach civility first.

In high school I had developed the habit of “skiing” down a steep set of concrete stairs, letting my sneakers glide over the smooth edges of the steps leading down to the theatre and the boys locker rooms. One day I lost control and fell headlong toward the bottom of the stairwell.

The guy who had kneed me in the groin in junior high school was three steps ahead of me and quickly turned to catch my fall by extending his arm. “Careful,” he said kindly. “It’s kinda slippery.”

I always said he saved my life. If I had been alone I would have fallen head first into a concrete stairwell between the doors to the theatre and the boys locker room. I feel like he payed his debt to me and I’ll always remember that he took just a moment to help me. He made an effort to see if I was okay.

TTFN

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WEBSITES ABOUT BULLYING

Searching for an image to use with this newsletter, I ran across several helpful websites that I want to share here.

stopbullying.gov – A website from the US government addressing issues of bullying and prevention, including a section on “Race, Ethnicity, National Origin & Religion.”

psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bullying – A highly regarded magazine with dozens of articles about bullying, and how to deal with it.

BucketsOverBullying.org – A sports-centric initiative committed to eliminating cyberbullying among children and teens.

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Survey Country

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 13, 2026

Drawing by Eric Margerum

Did you read my drawing credit? I drew that! I’m pretty excited by how it turned out. 

Granted, the top of the signpost is either in a different universe from the base, or it was made from a branch that suffered a difficult youth from which it never fully recovered.

But I had bemoaned my inability to draw just a couple of weeks ago, and that’s not a bad attempt! My cousin Hugh is an excellent artist (hughmargerum.com) and he could probably give me a few pointers, but for now I’m gonna take the win.

Welcome to Survey Country

How many times do you get asked to fill out a survey each week? Last week I had three.

And here’s the thing.

I’ve done my share of rating people over the decades, and I’m pretty good at giving compliments. I taught a lot of classes both as a professor and as a dean for twenty-four years. I also directed plays—as many as five in a school year, but always at least one. I know that people need supportive words to encourage them and to embolden them to keep making progress.

As a dean, I also had to write performance reviews for every faculty and staff member under my supervision. I’ve done a lot of evaluations. 

So why would I fill out yet another survey? I mean, the others were part of my job. I was getting paid to write evaluations.

After I had my teeth cleaned at the dentist last week I got an email asking me to fill out a survey on their service. I feel guilty when I don’t fill out the survey because I’m afraid they’ll only hear from the folks who were unhappy.

Oh, sure, I could complain because my usual dentistry had a burst water pipe and they had to reroute me to another location a few hours before my appointment. But am I gonna throw them under the bus for that? No.

They gave me the same appointment time and I didn’t have to wait. And they were so friendly. Especially to the young woman who was training on a new computer system. The fact that they treated her well, boosted my confidence in how they would treat me.

Okay, okay, I’ve just convinced myself. I’ll fill out their survey as soon as I finish writing this.

When my wife came back from Fresh Thyme Market she had a receipt asking for a survey response AND it offered a chance to win $250 for doing so. That’s not a guaranteed payment but at least they’re offering a tempting incentive. 

Besides, Fresh Thyme let me set up a book signing table in their store and I sold four or five books to their customers. They are also really friendly. I already filled out that survey. 

Many survey requests are just a ploy to get your compliments posted on social media. CVS expects one every time I buy a package of dental floss.

My Science Friday podcast reminds me to rate and review them every episode. But only if it’s positive, haha.

I see where experts on how to sell your indie book, say I should be asking you to post a favorable review of my book on Amazon or wherever you buy books. Apparently that’s the way the world turns. 

So I’ll rate the dentist and maybe score a few more karma points to get some nice ratings for myself.

Welcome to Survey Country.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Running With The Demon

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 6, 2026

When I was in high school, my brother and I painted houses to earn money for college. We listened to a radio that kept playing the same top ten hits all day long and my mind would wander off to a story by Terry Brooks that had captured my attention: The Sword of Shannara.

Having read all the magical adventures of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the release of the first Shannara book whet my appetite for more adventure. That began a long procession of Brooks’ books that I read for about fifty years. The man has only recently announced his retirement but fortunately his designated successor will continue to carry the torch under his oversight.

When Running With The Demon came out in 1997 I was quick to dismiss it as “not a Shannara book,” but Brooks later acknowledged the Word & Void series as a distant prequel to Shannara. I’m currently listening to the second book in the series, but wanted to tell you about the first one.

The story takes place on a Fourth of July weekend in a small town in Illinois. A fourteen-year-old girl named Nest lives near a park where a magical forest creature teaches her about taking care of the park and staying away from the Feeders that thrive on the fears and vulnerabilities of their human victims.

Nest knows she has magic, and knows that none of her band of close friends can see the Feeders. She protects them as much as she is able but much more dangerous magic is on its way. The demon of the title soon arrives, as does a Knight of the Word, and the Word and the Void have a showdown that includes Nest.

I won’t spoil the story by telling you too much, but I think it’s fair to warn you about one scene that matches the supernatural brutality of a Steven King novel. Brooks describes the gruesome death of a human that the demon has seduced into doing his bidding. If you’re a parent wondering if this story is a good fit for your child, I wanted to give you let you know about that part.

The other aspect of the Word & Void drama is its remarkable parallels to our modern world. The Word is order and the Void is chaos. In this divided world of 2026, as our social media rewards outrage and fear, this fantasy world offers us a staging ground of the many possible outcomes. It feels very current and very real.

I recommend it highly.

TTFN

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Having ended on a dark note above, I’ll lighten the tone with another cartoon from The New Yorker and the caption I submitted for their weekly contest:

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – 15 Things I Learned Watching TV & Movies

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 30, 2026

PHOTO: Photo by Timur Repin on Unsplash

I thought this might be useful for those of you who only read books…

15 Things I Learned Watching TV & Movies

  1. You don’t need to say goodbye at the end of a phone call, just hang up.
  2. Parking spots are always available in front of tall buildings.
  3. Government secrets are best discussed in restaurants where no one will pay any attention.
  4. A hair brush and push-up bra will transform a schoolmarm into a ravishing beauty.
  5. Drinking 3 or 4 shots of whiskey on an empty stomach won’t have any effect.
  6. A musical instrument is easy to play when you want to sing a song to someone.
  7. You don’t need to watch the road when you drive, you can just look at your passenger.
  8. All bullets fired at you will miss when you’re trying to help someone.
  9. You can borrow anyone’s phone because you’ve memorized the number of every family member, friend, and your lawyer.
  10.  If you talk nice to an office assistant, she’ll make sure you get in to see her boss.
  11.  Alien invasions all begin with dark, roiling clouds.
  12.  Guys with acne scars are always packing heat.
  13.  All passwords can be easily hacked in four seconds.
  14.  Dogs know exactly what you need and where to find the person who can help you.
  15.  Never, never go into a parking garage. Only bad things happen there.

I hope that’s helpful.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Mother/Daughter Pair

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 23, 2026

It’s very cold outside in the Midwest. I hope it’s less severe where you are. 

Our outdoor cats have us worrying over them when they don’t show up for 48 hours to eat. Tabitha, the mother, finally showed up on Saturday. Then Rocket, one of her kittens from last spring, apparently went into heat because I chased off a large tomcat who was stalking her. The next day she was nowhere to be seen. She came back the day after.

That mother/daughter pair had been sharing warmth in the little cat house we set up for them, but they seem to have abandoned that cozy nook. Meanwhile the temperatures dropped into the single digits. Yikes!

So I’m entering the doors to the track at the Wellness Center and I hold the door for a young mother carrying her baby in a carseat. After my first circle around the track I see her again, cradling her infant while taking a slow walk. She looked like the drawing above but with an infant half that size. 

Two weeks old? Three, I was guessing. It’s been a few years since my daughter was that size.

The mother/daughter pair were the very definition of motherhood and she shared a smile with me as my face reflected that thought. Watching them warmed my heart and reminded me of the kindly looks I got standing in the aisle of an airplane, bouncing my infant daughter on a cross-country flight.

Something in all of us, I thought, wants to keep that infant protected and cherishes those who do.

TTFN

P.S. I’m careful to credit any photos I use in this newsletter to give due credit. In checking the URL of the artwork above, their ending of “.co” is correct. It’s freekidscoloringpages.co (If you try to change it to “.com” it won’t work.)

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This just in…

A fellow named John Raccio posted that on the Baby Boomers account of Facebook. I thought it’d be funny to share in light of last week’s newsletter.

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – A Rorschach Test

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 16, 2026

As the new year got started I was reflecting on what age I would be this year and realized it was an opportunity to make a joke about the whole 6-7 phenomenon. So I posted the message above.

I was surprised, then, to learn that my joke became something of a Rorschach Test giving me insight about the people who wrote responses.

Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach created an inkblot test to uncover the thoughts and emotions of patients by presenting them with ambiguous blotches, all open to interpretation.

Here’s a sample of them: 

I look at these inkblots and see several characters ripe for stories featuring mythological antagonists or ancient warriors. Tells you something about my imagination, doesn’t it? 

There’s an old joke about a psychologist showing inkblots to a patient. The dialogue goes something like this: 

Psychologist: I’d like you to look at a few cards and tell me what you see.

Patient: Okay. 

Psychologist: Here’s the first one. What do you see? 

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

Psychologist: And here’s the second one. What do you see now?

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

Psychologist: Interesting, and the third one. What do you see now?

Patient: I see a man and a woman making love. 

[This continues for two or three more inkblots before the psychologist puts down the cards.]

Psychologist: You seem to be preoccupied with the thought of lovemaking.

Patient: Me? You’re the one with the dirty pictures!

(That dialogue can be made more explicit, depending on your audience.)

When people responded to my social media post, it generated lots playful banter about the 6-7 craze, sober reflections on aging, heartfelt warm regards, and several birthday greetings, though my birthday is still many months away. One helpful person directed me—and others who weren’t in the know—to a short TikTok video explaining the origins of the 6-7 sensation.

I found it to be a fascinating study of people’s reactions to an ambiguous post, and appreciated getting a deeper look at my friends and their personalities.

TTFN

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Last week I recommended books about Paddington Bear and this week I happened to see a deal for the audiobook that begins the series, A Bear Called Paddington.

The company is called Chirp Books and they offer discounted audiobooks with no subscription. I’ve bought several from them and I haven’t been disappointed yet. Here’s a link to this book:

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/a-bear-called-paddington-by-michael-bond?promotion_id=303194

(Just so you know, I don’t get any money by recommending this audiobook.)

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Bear Called Paddington

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 9, 2026

Our daughter Lora had the wonderful opportunity to go to Scotland for a month last year, performing in a play called Faster in the Attic at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She and the production got several nice reviews. While she was there she stopped to have a chat with Paddington Bear.

She posted the photo above with these comments: 

Today a statue of Paddington appeared at the park near our venue. (My sandwich was in my backpack, I would’ve eaten with him, but he had some other fans to take photos with.)

I’m sure the gentleman who offered to take this photo was confused by how emotional I got after he took it.

My Grandma and I used to read Paddington’s stories all the time (my favorite was when he got a driver’s license for his shopping cart.) And how serendipitous that I wore her necklace today.

Happy that she’s with me today even all the way in Scotland.

My mom read many books to me and my brothers when we were growing up and she was delighted to share the Paddington books with Lora. In fact, Debbie and I often sidled up to the bedside readings and enjoyed hearing the stories as well.

The stories are just right for children in elementary school because they can laugh at the way Paddington takes certain expressions literally, just as they themselves had done only a few years earlier: 

“Are you pulling my leg?!”

“No. In fact I can’t even see your legs from this side of the desk.”

There are three Paddington movies and they’re all very warm-hearted with mild slapstick, humorous misunderstandings, and plenty of marmalade sandwiches. Those are his favorite.

Here’s an Easter Egg moment for you to enjoy in the first movie: Paddington is arriving in London for the first time and sees a friendly old gentleman raise a glass to him in salute. That man was Edward Bond, the man who wrote all of the Paddington books.

I love moments like that!

The books and the movies are all entertaining without the tiresome silliness that make parents dread hearing or seeing them over and over again. In fact, I borrowed a dialogue from Paddington’s visit with a psychologist and have used it repeatedly in giving acting classes. It always draws laughter from the other students and I always enjoy it myself.

I hope you have the chance to treat yourself and any children in your family to A Bear Called Paddington.

TTFN

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Books of Verses

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 2, 2026

I hope you enjoyed my verses last week. I’ve been thinking of writing enough of them to make a children’s book of poetry. How many would make for a modern day “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” I wonder. That book saw it’s 140th birthday last year. That’s quite a publishing run!

Many of my verses make use of idioms and wordplay. In fact, I was originally thinking that I should call it “Verses for the Complete Idiom,” playing off of the “Complete Idiot” how-to series, but I doubted children would get the connection. Also, the number of idioms in the English language is legion! When would such a project even end?

In my days working at Crown Books I was delighted to discover children’s books by Shel Silverstein. His skewed view of the world was nothing short of genius, and his illustrations were of minimalist perfection. Oh, how I wish I could draw! If you don’t recognize the name, seek out “Where The Sidewalk Ends” or “Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book” to get started.

I’m no Silverstein, but his work has inspired me and I thought I might use my poem “Verses Versus Curses” as the title of my book. I think it sets the mood, gives a nod to Stevenson’s “Child’s Garden of Verses” and could be the first poem in the book.

Speaking of idioms, here’s another poem I wrote recently based on the weather “raining cats and dogs.”

Cats and Dogs 

It never did rain cats and dogs 

When I played in a puddle.

It may have showered toads and frogs,

But not one you could cuddle.

A street could flood with pigs and hogs, 

Creating quite a mud-dle.

And clouds that hail down sticks and logs

Will make the children huddle.

But “sticks and stones may break my bones”

Is not a sound rebuttal.

I’m aware that “rebuttal” is not on a child’s standard vocabulary list, but there’s nothing more motivating for learning a word than hearing it used in an interesting way. I was three the first time our family took a sabbatical in Germany and I returned at age four with many new words in my own vocabulary, both German and English.

TTFN

P.S. This is not a New Year’s resolution, just an ambition. 

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Some Holiday Fun

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 26, 2025

My brothers and I joke about our mother’s “last minute” gifts on Christmas Day. Younger brother Rich does the best imitation of her sudden squeal when she realized what she forgot to wrap.

Christmas morning always lasted for hours as we first ate Mom’s beloved cinnamon rolls, then opened all our stockings, and then distributed the gifts. The gift opening proceeded one person at a time, starting with the youngest. 

When Mom’s parents and sister were there, it took eight unwrappings to complete one circuit. You see, you can’t just open it and say thanks, you have to try it on, play with it, read the blurb, or play some of the music, and then exclaim how much you’re going to love it. 

Later we added spouses, then grandchildren and the morning extended right into lunchtime. Mom brought out plenty of food for people to graze on during the Christmas marathon.

Near the end of that gift extravaganza, Mom would suddenly utter her high pitched squeal and say “Hold on, one more gift!” We would share smiles that said “There it is!” because it happened every year, and then we waited for her to dig through dresser drawers for a gift she bought back in July which she presented to the lucky giftee with a story about its origins.

In the fond spirit of that squeal here are some last minute gifts for you. They’re a day late, but you’ll know I was thinking about you. 

Mom loved to laugh and I hope my gifts elicit a little chuckle for the holidays.

TTFN

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“There it is again! Did ya hear it that time?”

“Definitely. I definitely heard something that time.”

* * * * *

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

Yellow is a mellow fellow and

Green is always keen,

Red is said to have some cred and

Blue is lovely, too

But

Nothing rhymes with orange.

Black is always coming back and

White is quite alright,

Gray can sometimes have its day and

Pink will never stink,

BUT

NOTHING RHYMES WITH ORANGE!

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“So, yeah, he told me what street the restaurant was on,

but I had no idea it was actually ON THE STREET!”

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Verses Versus Curses

I’ve often thought that curses were

A useful tool of language

Like mustard on the meat between 

The layers of a sandwedge.

But please be careful who you’re with 

And what they think of curses,

They may object, or take offense, 

Or maybe something worses.

Poetry instead can be

The mustard in your kitchen, 

When cursing isn’t pardoned much

And DRAT just isn’t bitchen.

[Photo Credits Above: AAA Magazine]

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – A Holly Jolly Christmas

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – December 19, 2025

PHOTO CREDIT UNKNOWN

One camera, two actors, a director, and a camera operator stood in front of a little A-frame bungalow in the middle of Oxnard Beach, California. 

“That’s Burl Ives!” I said to my cousin Doug. Our Grandpa shushed me. Maybe he didn’t want us to ruin the shot, probably not, he had no experience with show business. I think he didn’t want these men to be bothered by a couple of nine-year-old kids. 

“I have his record, Grandpa,” I told him. “The Big Rock Candy Mountain. I know all the songs—”

Grandpa shushed me again. He’d heard me sing many, many songs by heart and he knew that with the slightest encouragement I would break out my repertoire.

Singing songs has always been a great joy in my life, and I knew at an early age that life really ought to be a musical. No wonder I went into theatre!

Burl Ives was an early part of that love of music. Besides being an actor, he was also a folk singer, and my brother and I just about wore out that record of his folk songs before we outgrew it.

Well, my brother outgrew it. I had it all memorized and those songs became a part of my life’s mental soundtrack.

My mental Holiday soundtrack includes the voice of Burl Ives singing “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver and Gold,” and, of course, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Oh, sure, other artists have covered these songs, and done them well, but it’s the voice of Burl Ives I’ve heard in my mind for over fifty years now.

Watching Burl Ives and his costar act out this brief scene on the beach we were their little audience of three. Quite a treat for my summer visit to California!

When they were done, Burl Ives smiled and waved at us before Grandpa led us away. But then the director—probably a second unit director based on what I now know about film and TV—came over to us and kindly told us the name of the TV series, the network, and about when the episode would air.

It was called “The Bold Ones: The Lawyers” and it aired at ten o’clock at night, so I never saw it. VCR’s wouldn’t grow into popular use for another dozen years.

Think of me when you watch the Rudolph special, and know that my little nine-year-old self is singing along with Burl Ives, who, like the main character, “will go down in his…to…ree.”

TTFN

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While typing this newsletter I did a search for that TV title on YouTube. It’s there! Full episodes. I skimmed through two of them without finding a beach scene. There are 25 more episodes to look through, so if I find the scene, I’ll let you know. 

My other experience of TV and film is that scenes are sometimes left lying on the editing room floor, as with my IMBD-credited performance in “Right To Die” with Raquel Welch.

Ah, well, that’s show biz!

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles