Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, published in 1899, is one of the most widely read, frequently taught, and earnestly discussed books in the history of American literature. But in the 1950s, it was out of print, as were all of Chopin’s books. Only one of her stories, Desiree’s Baby, was included in many anthologies. That […]
Many people aspire to be great writers, or just writers, period, but have trouble getting started. While nearly all successful writers say the way to be a writer is to write and leave it at that, many believe there is some secret to it – like getting up at 6 a.m. and writing standing up, […]
Today brought the sad news of the passing of my Aunt Valerie Thomas Hartshorne, the last of my parrents’ generation to depart this earth. I find it difficult indeed to describe what she meant to me, to her family, and to her myriad friends. To me she exemplified love and compassion and consideration for others. […]
Jonathan Edwards was a famous 18th century preacher, probably best known for his sermon ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’. But he was also a famous naturalist, who discovered how spiders fly by sending out a length of filament into the wind and then, at the last minute, cutting the cords that bound […]
“It was a New Jersey farmer, as Thomas Jefferson pointed out, who invented the modern wagon wheel, of which he had found an exact description in Homer. [Not Homer Simpson. The blind Greek guy.] This was the wheel with a circumference made from a single piece of wood. “American farmers, Jefferson added, when the invention […]
If you were born when Ike was president, as I was, and you take prescription drugs, you will have learned, or you will soon learn about the ‘doughnut hole’. When it comes to the doughnut hole, I am the opposite of an expert. I know nothing about it or how it came to be, so […]
One of the ways I’m beguiling my time in my golden years is watching old episodes of NYPD Blue. I enjoyed the show when it first aired, like millions of other viewers, and now, many years later, I am deeply impressed by the quality of the writing, the cinematography, the score, and, above all, the […]
I just finished watching the six-hour miniseries ‘Lonesome Dove’ and, if it’s possible, I enjoyed it even more than the first time. I loved the book by Larry McMurtry, of course, and this series really does it justice. It’s visually beautiful, more so than anyone thought television could be; the music is great; and the […]