Posts

Margerumalia – Social Prescribing

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 21, 2026

Looks kind of intimidating all in caps with red drop shadows like that, but it’s quite the opposite. It’s the prescription for better health through “social connection and community-based activity.” 

I heard about social prescribing through a story on the PBS News Hour podcast and it made me think about how much of it is the opposite of our experiences with social media.

This comes naturally to me, but presents a challenge to others. For me, the solitary task of writing is much farther outside wheelhouse than the prescription to make social connections and get involved in community-based activity. Some of the key prescriptions for better health—both mental and physical—are nature, movement, the arts, service and connection.

I walk every day through the woods. I teach acting, direct plays, write plays, poems, and stories. I volunteer to help out at my public library. And the subbing I do at my local Jr/Sr High School is part payment and part service.

Connection? Oh, yes, theatre is always a group effort and I love the connections I make there. Two writing groups and a monthly lunch gathering at the co-working studio have fostered my connections as well.

Nature AND Connection? I have so many dog friends who welcome my attention and wag their tails enthusiastically as I greet them each by name. I even know the names of some of their humans!

Here’s Lana, who likes to run at me full tilt from fifty yards away!

From what I’ve read on socialprescribingusa.com, these kind of activities are proven to stimulate better mental health and physical health, and they have the data to back it up. I’ve also met many people for whom these prescriptions are fear-filled and triggering. They need to get their prescriptions in smaller doses. 

The introvert may not be keen about the idea of joining the ranks of a theatre company, but maybe they enjoy playing the guitar or a piano. They can do that alone or they can get together with one other person and play together. The introverts I’ve met are usually fine with one-on-one interaction.

And one doesn’t need to visit a kennel of excitable dogs to experience the love of one dog. In fact, people with therapy dogs are siphoning off some of their anxiety through the service animal. That’s a social prescription.

So much rage and fear is jammed into our heads through social media that a quiet calm conversation with another person has been proven to reduce blood pressure, calm the flight-or-flight response, and deepen breathing. If that’s the purpose of the prescription then I’m all for it.

My wife and I returned to watching episodes of Ted Lasso recently and I felt myself laughing with good humor instead of experiencing the anxiety-ridden laughter of so many other comedies.

Please treat yourself kindly and embrace the resulting benefits.

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – Return of the Kitty Mamas

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 10, 2026

OOPS! I accidentally tapped on a button that sent out my Friday morning newsletter on Monday afternoon. My bad.

On the other hand, this gave me the chance to update you on the ongoing saga of the Kitty Mamas. Which hadn’t hadn’t happened yet. So this gives me a chance to bring you up to date. 

First of all we caught the last of Tabitha’s litter about three weeks ago. Here’s a picture of the final member of her brood:

Looking pretty frightened, I know. We called her BabyTab because she was her mother’s Mini Me.

Tabitha’s accustomed to us taking her kittens when she ready to “push them out of the nest” so she didn’t even stick around to see it.

Rocket, on the other hand, was wide-eyed when I brought Shadow’s cage into the house. She and her remaining four kittens high-tailed it out of there and after three weeks we were resigned to having lost her. Tabitha, too. Total radio silence.

Three weeks! We’ve had them disappear for three days, but close to a month?

On Tuesday morning Debbie stood by the front door and said with disbelief, “I see a cat!” I took a quick look then grabbed the cat food and stepped outside. It was Rocket! And I sat down to feed and pet her.

She was kitten-sized and clearly had been surviving on a starvation diet. She didn’t mind the attention, though, and even pushed her face into my hand to get a little added affection. I asked about her kittens but she ignored my questions.

Then on Wednesday, Debbie looked out on the back deck and spied Tabitha! Here they are, Tabitha on the left and Rocket on the right. 

We’re talking about how to catch both of them to have them spayed, but we also wanted Rocket to trust us and bring her kittens back. They seem to be gone. Caught by someone else? Food for predators? We don’t know.

Oh, we also caught one other fan of kitten food:

He was also a bit frightened and too scared to leave the cage when I opened it up, but I poked him in the behind and he toddled off toward the other side of the deck. He paused there indicating he wouldn’t have minded a bit more kitten food, but I told him the kitchen was closed.

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – The Bound of the Basketballs

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 10, 2026

Does that title sound like a pastiche of Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles? I hope it does, because that’s the intent. Here’s how it came about.

During the dress rehearsal of the short play festival in June I was sitting in the audience with my friend Steve Martin (not the Steve Martin you’re thinking of) who, like me, wrote and directed his own short play.

“Did you notice,” asked Steve, that almost every play is broadly comical and very silly except ours?” 

His play was a very affective story about someone who lost a loved one but gets a glimpse of her in a mystical way before losing her again. Mine was the dystopian future of an America without rights or the freedom to speak of such rights.

“Yeah,” I said, wondering where his train of thought was going, “I did notice.”

“Let’s make a pact,” said Steve, “Both of us will write witty inane comedies for next year and submit them to the festival.” 

“Agreed!” I said, knowing he posts puns almost daily on Facebook. We shook on it and the wheels began to turn.

Last week I recommended a Librivox recording of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles. This week I’ll introduce you to my notes for Eric Margerum’s Shirley Combs mystery “The Bound of the Basketballs.”

When I showed Steve my Notes page for this idea he waved it away, grinning “I got it just by reading the title!” And so the process begins.

Since all of Doyle’s novel is narrated by Dr. Watson, my short play will begin with a narration by Dr. Weston. Probably ending the opening speech with a remorseful sentence wishing that the renowned detective were there to help solve the mystery.

“But I am here,” says the voice of Shirley Combs before she steps into the light, “I’ve been here all along.” She enters with a self-satisfied grin in the guise of cleaning woman that is identical to the character that Carol Burnett used to play on her TV variety show.

Substituting for the English Moors will be the Basketball Floors, with an oft repeated adjective like “vast,” “desolate,” or “sinister” to evoke imagery similar to that found in the novel.

And the pernicious murder mystery to solve will be the death of Tracee Park, the young Hoosier upstart fresh out of college who took the WNBA by storm. Her detractors referred to her as “Trailer Park” before her unfortunate demise. “No more free throws for that trailer trash.”

The rest of the cast will rely on one actor quickly changing costumes to present characters like Coach Fanny Bright, Inspector LeStreet, and Concessionaire Morrie Arty.

I’ve given myself one more challenge, to come up with a satisfying resolution to the mystery that makes the audience admire the plotting skills of the writer. If that’s doesn’t happen, I’ll just make it a silly ending that employs a cringe-worthy pun.

Challenge Accepted!

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – The Hound of the Baskervilles

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 7, 2026

I recently enjoyed a LibriVox recording of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. I think I’ve now read or listened to every Sherlock Holmes story by Doyle, but I plan to get out my checklist to make sure I haven’t missed any.

LibriVox has done an exceptional job of recording books in the public domain and making them easily available through every audio recording app, from Apple to Xtunes. My only caution about their recordings is that they’re all voiced by volunteers who can be very, very good or somewhat amateur. I listened to Les Miserables many years ago and some chapters sounded like they were recorded by people who wanted to practice their English language skills…inexpertly. Other chapters were excellent.

The LibriVox recording of The Hound of the Baskervilles is what they call “a full cast recording,” meaning that people only speak their character’s words and a narrator reads the rest. In this case, Doyle is writing as Dr. Watson so the voice actor speaks both the narration and the dialogue of Watson. She was exceptional and I fully enjoyed her work. 

Yes, several of the characters were voiced by actors of a different gender, and some were American and others were British, but good storytelling quickly pulls you past those differences and you’ve soon forgotten them because you’re fully involved in the story. 

And what a story it is, too! I felt like I had visited the Moors of Northern England just from the poetic and in-depth descriptions of the countryside, sometimes beautiful, sometimes sinister, sometimes charming, and sometimes threatening. I’m so used to the Sherlock Holmes cases leaning heavily on facts and evidence, that I wasn’t expecting that kind of portrait of characters, dwellings, and the countryside.

Well done Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

I’m sure there are many alternate recordings to choose from, but take it from an acting teacher and theatre director, the LibriVox recording is worth the listen.

TTFN

* * * * *

I thought I’d share my latest entry in the caption of a New Yorker cartoon. Hope it gives you a chuckle.

I think it’s time that Babar learns how to use the door.

* * * * *

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 – The Ol’ Snip and Clip

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – July 31, 2026

We were surprised!

We started putting out the animal traps to catch the kittens and send them to the Humane Shelter, but Tommy (the tomcat) decided he’d like a bite of that kitten food and walked right into the cage on the porch.

Clang! The door slammed shut when he put his weight on that metal plate.

Tommy is practically identical to Tabitha, the older mama cat, and resembles Rocket as well. He’d been hanging around again and had taken to standing in the driveway singing the blues. The “Baby Daddy Blues,” that is. Most of the kittens look like him so we assumed he was the father of them all. Maybe the father of Rocket, and Tabitha as well.

Cats don’t have qualms about incest or other human mores.

Tommy didn’t go quietly. He hissed and thrashed about. He even scraped his left eyebrow—if you zoom in you can see the blood.

Poor guy just wanted a bite of food. Among other treats.

Tommy would come within a few feet of me when I sat and petted Rocket on the front porch, but dashed away when I stood up. He shared food bowls with the kittens as well, no bullying or manspreading.

Now he’s off to get snipped and clipped.

They’ll neuter him so he stops adding to the wild cat population and then clip one of his ears so anyone will know that he’s been fixed. The fellow from Animal Control told me that the shelter will try to find him a home, maybe in someone’s home, maybe as a barn cat for chasing rodents. If not, they’ll release him in the neighborhood where he was caught.

Meanwhile, on the back deck, Shadow walked into a different, smaller trap. His siblings scattered but Rocket watched me with wide eyes as I picked up the cage and took him inside. Shadow was terrified and huddled in the cat carrier we set up in the basement bathroom.

Here he is huddled among the towels:

You see the worried look on his face? Heartbreaking.

He spent two nights crying from about 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM. The second night I went down there at 5:00 and just sat with him. He was fine with getting petted, but the challenge was reaching him in the back of the cat carrier.

We sent Shadow to the shelter shortly after that. I fell a little bit in love with that sweet kitten, but knew we had to say goodbye. I’m sure he’ll get adopted very quickly.

Tabitha and her trio hightailed it to the woods when Tommy began his mating song, and Rocket took her remaining four kittens away right after seeing Shadow brought inside. We can’t catch the any more if they’re not around.

It’s too, too quiet around here.

TTFN

* * * * *

Quick update: these two kittens of Tabitha’s walked into cages on Tuesday morning. Moth, the tabby with a brown patch on her forehead, and Smokey, the black kitten almost identical to Shadow. If you’re keeping track of the genealogy, these two would be Shadow’s aunt and uncle (or two uncles or two aunts, I didn’t go poking around in their privates).

The fact that both mama cats had litters of tabbies with one black cat is further argument that Tommy is the Baby Daddy of both litters.

We were glad to see them cuddling together for comfort. I’m afraid the third one will have to brave it out like Shadow did.

* * * * *

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 – Girl Dads

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – July 24, 2026

I was reading a post on Substack the other day when another short play started germinating in my mind. While I was on my morning walk I started writing it in my head.

The Substack author, Sasha Brown-Worsham, described an incident that happened to her 19-year-old daughter. She was at the beach with her friends when they walked off to get food and she was suddenly alone. 

An older man took the opportunity to approach her, started asking uncomfortable questions and wouldn’t leave her alone. When a dad in his 40’s saw what was happening, he approached her like an old friend and successfully deflected the advances of the other man.

Later, the daughter told her mother that she and her friends have a name for men like that: Girl Dads. Men who quietly steer other men away from a girl who doesn’t want the attention nor the expectations that go with it.

While walking, I came upon a young 20-something who was taking pictures of plants at the edge of the path. I could tell she was aware of my approach, and I wanted to put her at ease so I pointed to her phone and said “My wife has an app she uses to identify wild plants she wants to learn the names of.”

Her face lit up and she returned my smile showing me her phone. “I do, too!”

“Those are great.” I said cheerfully, and continued on.

Later, when I saw her again we exchanged waves and smiles.

My short play now begins with that young woman taking a picture of a plant when the unwanted stranger approaches. I currently have him in my script as “CREEP,” but I’ll have to come up with an actual character name. 

Unlike my normal process, I’ve written a page of dialogue for when GIRL DAD gets involved and prevents CREEP from making further advances. I’m not sure how CREEP operates and tries to manipulate GIRL, but pretty soon I’ll have to strip down and step into that godawful bog to figure out what he’ll say and do.

That’ll probably alter the lines I’ve written already, but it think that’ll feel like a deep cleaning and I’m totally up for that!

I replied to Brown-Worsham’s post with my intent to write a three-hander 10-Minute play, adding “I like to think the arts can set a trend to normalize this kind of heroism.”

It can be a high bar, but I now belong to a playwrights group and I intend to get their valuable input once it’s in good shape.

TTFN

* * * * *

Speaking of the playwrights group, I promised to let you know how the evening of five-minute play readings went last week (A Fugesberg Fourth). I thought it went very well and was pleased that my play got laughs in all the right places. The other plays did, too, and I’m sure the playwrights were happy with the readings.

I also got to enjoy the company of many people from Civic Theatre who had been involved in the Short Play Festival a couple of weeks ago. Three of them responded to the offer to join the Greater Lafayette Playwrights Group and our little cabal of creatives continues to grow. I love that.

* * * * *

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 Fuguesburg Fourth

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – July 17, 2026

I was invited to join the Greater Lafayette Playwrights last month just as the group was planning an evening of short play staged readings around the fictional small town of Fuguesburg. (Aptly pronounced FEW-guess-burg for our presentation.)

A menu of possible scenarios had been created for the playwrights to dabble in, from the initial parade, to the fireworks finale, and the dozen or so playwrights called dibs on a corner of small town life. This would give the audience a chance to see the residents of Fuguesburg from several angles. I chose the dessert table where the townsfolk were placing their themed creations to be judged and awarded.

I told Debbie that I felt like I had been given the chance to join a writer’s room for a sitcom or a sketch comedy like SNL. We offered up our ideas for a bunch of different scenarios, and we got the chance to make reference to the subject of other’s short plays. In improv or music, this is called riffing on an idea. Not ripping off an idea, but building on a theme by referring to themes of others. It’s a fun way to get the creative juices flowing!

My short play “Just Desserts,” for example, makes reference to the annual Miss Fuguesburg contest. Knowing that Neil was going to write about that event, I asked him if it would be okay to include a reference to last year’s winner, and I told him my idea for a joke about the men at the kissing booth. One doesn’t want to hijack a kissing booth joke from the playwright who’d created the event in the first place. I got the okay and went from there.

I also had my characters gossip about Mayor Maynott’s DWI and checked with the playwright who had written a welcoming speech to to the townsfolk which clearly shows him as corrupt and rather dodgy about following the law. This, too, was given the thumbs-up. That playwright also gave me the mayor’s correct first name as opposed to the one I had invented for that little tidbit.

Other playwrights got in on that kind of collaboration and the result will be an interwoven story with plenty of comedy and several tender moments that are quite endearing.

By the time you see this newsletter the free performance of staged readings will have been given two days ago, but I promise to let you know how it went.

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – Tabitha’s Meows

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – July 10, 2026

I was walking down the street for my morning walk and there’s Tabitha sitting in the road in front of our neighbor’s house.

That’s an odd thing to do, I thought. Tabby, the street smart cat who avoids all human contact, who skulks under shrubs, and vanishes into the ravine on a moment’s notice. What’s she doing in the street?

I coaxed her back to the house and she followed along the edge of the house under the bushes, no surprise there, and settled on to the front porch to eat the cat food I had out.

Soon after she left, I met her in the street again where she sat and meowed. She’s not a very vocal cat so I was completely baffled by her behavior.

When Debbie came back from the gym, Tabby turned in the street and stood in the way of the Highlander, still meowing at me.

What’s the fuss Tabitha? What’s up with you? 

Debbie rolled down her window, saying, “It’s like she wants you to follow her.” 

So I did, and she led me up the neighbor’s driveway. (I’m currently watching over their house while they’re away, so no worries about trespassing.)

She led me down the side yard and stopped at the porch step where two kittens emerged from the hastas and settled in to nurse.

I sent pictures to Debbie exclaiming TWO KITTENS!

Finally, weeks after first seeing Rocket’s six kittens, Tabitha was showing us two more! (Rocket was also part of a two-cat litter.)

I got a few pictures of them nursing and her cleaning them before I continued my morning walk. 

On the trail I met a friend who wanted to see the photos and I immediately showed her this photo of Tabitha lying on the step nursing her two kittens:

“Three,” my friend corrected me. “I see two tabbies and one black cat.” 

I had to count ears and tails before I believed her. Where had the third one come from? It’s like she appeared by magic! 

Go back and look at the picture of Tabitha cleaning her kittens, then look at the back edge of the step. 

I’ll wait.

Did you see that little eye peeking out of the corner by the plants? Kitten number three.

Both mama cats have been coming by for food recently but we haven’t seen the kittens for days. We trust they’re well, but if were going to catch them, they have to come visit again.

That’s a story for another day.

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – Playfest Performances

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – July 3, 2026

This credit and photo was on the screen in the Civic Theatre lobby and on the projection screen inside the theatre before the show began. Each of eleven short plays had one.

The Playfest Weekend went very well and I can report that opening night was one of the biggest audiences seen in 14 years of Playfest. That’s especially good news because it’s a Civic Theatre fund raiser. 

About “Out of the Abyss” specifically, I’m so proud of my actors and so pleased to hear many people in the lobby tell me that our play was their favorite. On closing night Debbie and I heard sniffles behind us and during the scene change I glanced over my shoulder to see a man wiping his eyes.

“Me, too,” I thought. “Me, too.”

I saw all of the plays grow tighter and more adept in their delivery throughout the last rehearsals and performances. Actors will tell you that audience response teaches them about the meaning of the play and how to deliver the lines. The comedies become funnier, the dramas become more stirring, and the light and sound changes flow without hesitation.

Highlighting a couple of moments from “Out of the Abyss,” there was a split second Hannah created for her character in which she assumed the pose of the Statue of Liberty. I took a screenshot of it from the video that Debbie made.

In every performance I heard an audible response from the audience when they realized the significance of her pose. It was brief but very effective.

My favorite moment for LH was around a line that I added at the first rehearsal. It was “I have…a dream.” He delivered it with such power, such force, and he knew exactly how long to pause for the ellipsis. It also evoked reactions from the audience that I can only describe as explosive.

Someone I went to high school with caught me after opening night and took my hands, saying, “You told my story!” When she saw my confusion she clarified passionately, “I’m a social worker just like her: helping one person at a time.”

I’m so glad I got that right. She felt seen, and wanted to get together later to tell me more. I agreed, happily.

Authors don’t always get direct feedback from their writing, but as the playwright and the director of this short play, I got to feel the impact of my words.

I’m grateful.

My actors got together and gave me a gift so I asked them if I could share the words they wrote inside the book. They said that would be fine.

This slim 80-page book by Walter Isaacson is already on the Bestseller list and I used a portion of that Greatest Sentence in my play. The one that begins “We hold these truths  to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”

Hannah and LH know that I’ve submitted this play to another play festival in Florida called Kaleidoscope. I told them that requirements for submission included naming two or three emotions that the play evokes. I decided on DESPAIR and HOPE and told them on the night of the final dress rehearsal for additional inspiration.

Their eyes lit up with those words and thus the underline of HOPE above.

I’ve also submitted the play to a publisher who wants a collection of short plays that are specifically science fiction. Mine qualifies because of its dystopian setting. 

It’ll be months before I hear back from either.

Meanwhile I’ll submit to other festivals and keep on writing.

TTFN

* * * * *

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 – Opening Night

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – June 26, 2026

By the time you read this on Friday, it’ll be opening night of the Short Playfest at Greater Lafayette Civic Theatre.

Hearts are beating a little faster. Palms are moist. Everyone has wished one another to “Break a leg.” And then it’s lights up. Show time! 

Fun fact:

I was told for years that the good luck wish to break a leg was just a bit of reverse psychology. To say “Good Luck” outright would be bad luck. Then I heard that the expression was something said by understudies looking for their opportunity to take the stage.

Later, I heard something much more plausible. 

The curtains across the top of a standard proscenium stage are called teasers, they hide the lighting instruments from the view of the audience. The curtains on the sides that hide actors waiting in the wings are called legs, because they fall from the teasers down to the floor when hung properly. 

Back in the days of vaudeville—a live variety show—the performers only got money if their act was among those chosen. In order to go on stage, you had to break past the “barrier” of the legs. Break a leg and you get paid. No starving artist tonight. Now that’s good luck!

I still have yet to hear if that’s the definitive origin of the expression but I find it the most satisfying so I’m sticking with it.

My cast is very on top of the lines and the characters, and they’re deeply dedicated to the passion of the story. I told them I was blessed with a dream cast and they quickly returned the compliment. Not surprising for three people who were in tears on the first read-through.

I’ll be attending all three shows. I’d feel so out of it if I didn’t. It’s probably the actor in me who learned decades ago that “the show must go on.”

Go ahead, tell us to break a leg.

TTFN

* * * * *

I had to share another kitten picture with you because the variety of colors is so interesting and rather beautiful.

On the lower left side you can see the edge of the window well cover I installed last month that the whole litter is now using as a slide. There’s also a second kitten down there, slightly out of focus but the tabby markings are a giveaway.

I have more photos and a video I plan to post on both BlueSky and Substack (margerumeric in both cases). 

* * * * *

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