Just Say No or, What We Talk About When We Talk About Sex (In Fiction): Revisited
Sean MurphyLying in bed, thinking about geometry. Like: how my arm next to her ass makes a right angle, or how her legs in either direction form an isosceles triangle (or…
My Old School
You can't go home again. But what if your house has been razed and replaced by a mighty mansion? (And in any event, a house is not a home, right?…
Flannery O’Connor read by…Flannery O’Connor
A few years ago I paid tribute to Flannery O'Connor on the occasion of a new biography (that I still need to read). Here it is, revisited, with a bonus…
J’adore Dorothy
The last time I felt obliged to link to the awesome Letters of Note (go here for last link and go here for the site), it was to quote from…
A Week of Americana. Part One: Moby Dick
As our nation prepares to celebrate another birthday this week, it seems like an appropriate time to revisit some posts that celebrate art, American style. The first one, fittingly, is…
The Scream of the Butterfly: Ray Bradbury, R.I.P.
Another great one has gone to that great library in the sky. Ray Bradbury is, among many other things (all good), a visionary, a genius, a role model and a…
Maurice Sendak, R.I.P.
This is a tough one for anyone born after 1960. That said, it must have been indescribably gratifying for Sendak to know that an entire generation (and then their kids,…
Mark Twain: The Big Daddy of American Letters (Revisited)
On April 21, 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Conn. Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is…
So It Goes: Reflections on Kurt Vonnegut (Five Years Later)
April, 2007. Kurt Vonnegut would say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. Often, he was asked:…
Obsession, Hope and Glory, Part One: Percy Fawcett’s Excellent Adventure (9/09)
Look at that guy. They don't make them like that anymore. The thing is, they didn't make them like that then, either. Col. Percy Fawcett was sui generis, supersized. And…