Welcome to Bendable Light (Where David Rodeback Writes). If you want writing on a particular topic, the home page is a good place to start. If you simply want whatever’s new (or nearly new), regardless of topic, this blog view is the place.
- We Still Need Public Libraries
Maybe the people we elect can buy all the books they want on Amazon or elsewhere. But we cannot afford to limit Americans to the books they can afford to buy. We need public libraries. If we ever find we’ve elected people locally who don’t get that, we must either persuade them or overwhelm and then retire them. - A Very Short Christmas Story in Lieu of a Column
I opened the pink box and smiled. It was a coffee mug showing a girl with a stack of books. “Just a girl who loves books,” it said. It was perfect. I wanted to hide it so another girl wouldn’t steal it, but that wasn’t allowed. I imagined sipping cocoa while I read my books. - Be More Human, Not Less
When we delegate a thing to our machines, our own ability in that thing decreases. When that thing is our thinking, we invite oppression and exploitation. When we turn to our machines as an alternative to connecting with fellow humans, we diminish our ability to be human at all. - Teaching Children to Read Books
I reluctantly learned another useful perspective from my own children. It’s important to help them find something they like to read, put it in their hands, and—this may be difficult—celebrate the fact that they’re reading. - Reading Aloud (again)
I’m back with three more things to read aloud, a note on how I use reading aloud in my writing, and an activity which may feel adventurous and will likely turn out beautifully. - This Writer and That Marching Band
I defy any cynic, any outright pessimist, to come away from that many hours with the youth of the American Fork High School Marching Band without feeling hope, without thinking the future might be in good hands after all. - The Lusty Month of May (Bookish Version)
We’ll chat here with two Utah romance authors. I’ll note some believable and unbelievable statistics I found. And we’ll visit a romance bookstore in Lehi to ask, of all things, do men read romance? Should they? Why? We’ll finish with a line from Shakespeare. - We Also Read to Heal
If we’re not taught to loathe reading from an early age, we soon find many reasons to read, including learning and enjoyment. . . . We also read to heal. - For Holy Week: Mostly MusicMusic, mostly, for each day of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday.
- Bookstore Memories
I like to listen to people in bookstores. I’ve overheard one sort of conversation many times, especially at used bookstores. The child in it can be a first-grader or a teen, and it goes about the same. - Reading Aloud Is for Adults Too
The benefits of reading aloud for youth and adults get far less attention, but they’re real. I don’t mean just reading a witty or scandalous social media post or a short excerpt of an article. I mean reading entire essays, stories, even books aloud. - In Which I Read My Fiction Aloud for World Read Aloud Day 2025
Today is World Read Aloud Day — or WRAD, because the world needs more acronyms. In celebration, I read some of my fiction aloud, so you can listen. - Poke the Algorithms in the Eye: Read Books in 2025
When we roam a real bookstore or browse the library stacks, we brush against the larger world and its infinite realities. The algorithms would never think to offer all the perspectives which beckon there, all the voices of the living and the dead, waiting and wanting to go home with us. - Abolishing Christmas (a short story)
Vern intoned ponderously, “We are on the verge of a very bad headline nationwide, perhaps worldwide. It will read something like this: ‘Utah city council abolishes Christmas.’” - “Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving”
Thoughts on a phrase from Psalm 107: “sacrifice the sacrifice of Thanksgiving.” What might my sacrifice be?
From the Author
Comments are always welcome, within the bounds of common civility and relevance. There’s a place for them below.
Subscribe below to receive alerts of new posts by e-email.
If you liked what you read here, please consider sharing it with someone else who might enjoy it. If you’re on Facebook, you might consider liking or following my Bendable Light page there.
And if you’re interested in my published fiction, which mostly isn’t about politics, check out my two published collections at 60 East Press.
