Welcome
This is the site of Mark Schaefer, attorney, author, educator, pastor, language scholar, and wordsmith. This site contains content from Mark’s writings, sermons, articles, and other material.
Sites
Visit some of Mark’s other sites:
Schaefer Wordsmithing
Good writing is more important than ever. At a time when texting, social media, and other informal forms have risen to prominence, good writing can help you stand out. If you need help with your writing—whether simple proofreading or in-depth editing—I can help. I also offer translation services from and into English for a number of languages.
The Certainty of Uncertainty
Mark’s 2018 book, a reflection on the unavoidable nature of uncertainty and why embracing uncertainty and doubt are vital for a healthy faith and meaningful life.
Mark’s long-running blog of sermons, theological reflections, and occasional linguistic musings.
A site to record and celebrate the creativity of human language by allowing visitors to submit sentences they believe have never been uttered before.
The Lands Under the Sun
An attempt to create the world’s first (or at least best) crowd-sourced fantasy epic. Members of the site can help to develop the world or write stories that take place in this world.
Recent Posts
- Shop Talk
I recognized my antagonist right away; I didn’t know who he was, but I recognized him. Or her. Too early to tell. He walked in out of the night into the bar, wearing a long woolen winter coat. The locals thought this was cold weather, and to fit in, people like my antagonist and I dressed the part. I sat at the far end of the bar, right near the corner, with a view toward the door for reasons exactly like this. Although, in decades of doing this job, I’ve never once run into my counterpart. Or anyone from the other side, for that matter. But when my antagonist walked in, I knew right away who he was. We can always recognize each other, no matter how good the disguise. If the humans were paying attention, they might have noticed the telltale signs, but they rarely noticed people like us. - What’s Going on with You and I?
It’s hard to see changes in language in realtime. Such things are usually gradual and only after a couple of generations have gone by can you really see the changes that have taken place. However, recently, I’ve noticed an emerging phenomenon regarding the way people use pronouns that suggested to me that I was witnessing - Immortality
A 100 Word Story So many slingshot pilots die young looking for immortality. I’d become a celebrity—the first to slingshot past the Oort Cloud using only an assist from Jupiter. This was to be my masterpiece: I’d use the black hole at Cygnus X-1 to propel myself to the next star system. It would take - What Goes Around
The Emperor was angry. Sitting in the anteroom to the throne room, waiting to be summoned, Marcus knew that much. It was not like the Emperor to summon a provincial governor unless something had gone wrong. Could it be the number of executions? Marcus’ count was undoubtedly high, but the Emperor wasn’t precisely a squeamish - The Democracy Tree
A neglected tree box on New Hampshire Avenue provided an opportunity over the Fourth of July weekend to save a tree and witness to a community for DC voting rights.
Featured Posts
Below are some highlights from some of Mark’s writing on this site and elsewhere.