A beautiful walk this morning in the cooler, wet air.
Cooler Wet Air
Year: 2021
Beautiful Morning
Enjoying a beautiful morning.
Stratford expert turns down Boris Johnson’s plea for help with Shakespeare book
A leading Shakespearean expert in Stratford-upon-Avon has turned down a request to help Boris Johnson write his book on the Bard. The prime minister allegedly was working on The Riddle of Genius instead of attending Cobra (Civil Contingencies Committee) meetings. Mr Johnson’s literary agent allegedly asked a Shakespeare expert to semi-dictate the content of the […]
Big Changes May Save Barnes and Noble
A huge focus of James Daunt’s keynote speech to the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) was how Barnes and Noble is bouncing back from the retail apocalypse. It also included a lot about mundane changes like new furniture to major overhauls of how books are even shelved! One big change is that stores can now […]
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Audiobook
This is an unabridged audiobook reading of “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” Alan Sillitoe’s story about a boy in Borstal who uses his running ability to make a personal show of his contempt and defiance of authority. It was awarded the Hawthorn Prize for the best work of imagination in prose and established […]
A Poem by Matt Mason in Response to Capital Violence
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Nebraska poet Matt Mason won national attention for his poem “The Start,” which appeared in the New York Times. He drafted the poem three years ago when he wasn’t comfortable with the political climate, later realizing the poem’s relevance last month as an angry mob swept the Capitol. The phrase […]
Hermann Hesse the Watercolorist
Hermann Hesse is one of the most widely read German-language writers ever. He is most renowned for his literary works such as Demian, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, yet he also made a name for himself as a painter. After the First World War, he learned to paint with watercolors. His paintings vividly depict […]
The Crucible Audiobook
This is a full-cast performance featuring Robert Foxworth, Pamela Payton-Wright, Stuart Pankin, and Jerome Dempsey and cast. I use this full audio recording of The Crucible in my classroom and intend no copyright infringement. It’s for educational purposes only. It was produced by The Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center (under the direction of Jules Irving […]
Swintec Typewriters Keep Clacking
The Wall Street Journal a few years ago ran an article about Swintec, one of the last surviving typewriter companies in the U.S. (Please see the WSJ article for more information.) Edward Michael, who started the company in 1985, is quoted in the article as saying, “We’re typewriters. This is our specialty. This is what […]
Gatsby as Silhouette
Sometimes a silhouette is more significant than an ordinary drawing. A few traces of the pen, a few vibrant adjectives, are often sufficient to bring a character to life. Take Owl Eyes, a partygoer at Gatsby’s mansion, a quickly drawn and excellent character who wanders into the library with intoxicated admiration. I’ve always seen this […]