Enjoy Agenda

Rick Bailey is a retired English instructor who taught writing for thirty-eight years at Henry Ford Community College in Michigan. He is the author or editor of several books on writing, including The Creative Writer’s Craft, and is the author of American English, Italian Chocolate: Small Subjects of Great Importance (Nebraska, 2017).

• 1. Inner Music2. Shorty3. Bridge4. Call It a Dance5. Tilt 6. Bring Your Horn7. Mindful, Bodyful8. Tied 9. The Birds and the Beatles10. Cookies and What? 11. GelatiAmo12. Beheading13. Idaho14. Good Bad15. Critters16. iSmell17. Alarm18. Up a Creak19. At Least It's Not Terrible20. Wreckage21. About Your Stuff22. Try a Little BLT23. And Then You Eat It24. Buddy, Can You Spare a Mao? 25. The Dope with the Camera26. ATM, Wontons, Lizard27. Fang Xin28. The Fifteenth Floor29. Chalant30. Just Call31. Say What? 32. Cowboys and Vespers33. Planticide Now34. The Cheese of Forgiveness35. Please, After You36. When Bacco Smiles37. Have I Got a Ragu for You38. Bite Down39. Difficult Worm40. The Enjoy Agenda

“Rick Bailey re-creates for us what Virginia Woolf calls moments of being, those bright bursts of beauty, loss, communion, and bewilderment that constitute a life. I defy you to read one of these deliciously addictive essays without gulping down the entire book.”-Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room “Rick Bailey’s essays overflow with warmth, humor, truth. . . . The Enjoy Agenda offers keen observations, nuggets of wisdom, stories of the heart.”-Christine Rhein, poet and the author of Wild Flight “It’s not often I read a book of essays and fall in love with the writer and the characters in his life. But that’s what happened reading Richard Bailey’s The Enjoy Agenda. . . . It is a lovely antidote to the despair and chaos in today’s world.”-David James, author of My Torn Dance Card “Full of food and music, longing, and curiosity, The Enjoy Agenda is a collection of brief illuminations where each essay arrives like a good friend with a story to tell. With generosity and sincerity, Rick Bailey is a writer who wants to share the world with you, and his book is one of discoveries, small marvels, and celebrations.”-Matthew Olzmann, author of Contradictions in Design “Knowledgeable, funny, and utterly curious, Bailey comes off as everyone’s favorite uncle, who returns from far-flung reaches to share wise tales and good wine. And though this book teems with quirky asides, curious tangents, and plenty of self-deprecating humor, what comes through strongest is a decades-long romance that is worthy of study and emulation.”-Joey Franklin, author of My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married “Clearing out the parental home, finding the best gelato in an Italian village, using photos to purchase (sans language) a screwdriver in Shanghai: Rick Bailey’s reminiscences are enhanced by research, literary references, and the simple pleasure he takes in the world around us. This is engaging, thoughtful work.”-Terry Blackhawk, Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellow“Hooray for miscellany, for odds and ends gathered between covers, designed to charm and surprise! Rick Bailey launches right into his quirky thoughts on myriad subjects (music, art, food, travel, health, language, etc.) and doesn’t let up for the duration of this wonderfully original, unpredictable book. The Enjoy Agenda subtly and insistently suggests that life is a gift to be enjoyed, a goal the book itself fulfills for readers.”-Patrick Madden, author of Quotidiana and Sublime Physick