A Poet's Notebook
For “The Dead” James Joyce drew upon an incident in Galway in 1903. There a young man named Michael (“Sonny”) Bodkin was courting Nora Barnacle (Joyce’s eventual wife), but he had tuberculosis and was soon bedridden. When Nora resolved to leave Galway for Dublin, the boy stole out of his sickbed and in the rain…
The defining moment in the life of John Dos Passos came between August 16 and 20, 1917, when he experienced combat firsthand as an ambulance driver in France at the Battle of Verdun. Three days later he wrote to his friend Rumsey Marvin: The war is utter damn nonsense—a vast cancer fed by lies and…
The first edition of Robert Frost’s third collection of poems, Mountain Interval, was published in 1916 by Henry Holt and Company and was dedicated “To you who least need reminding that before this interval of the South Branch under black mountains, there was another interval, the Upper at Plymouth, where we walked in spring beyond…
Is Barnes and Noble doomed to Borders’ fate? Borders’ liquidation this summer should have been Barnes & Noble’s grand opportunity to grab a sizable market share, just as the warehouse book-selling superstores benefited in the past when they ruthlessly forced countless smaller and independent bookstores to board up and call it quits. But something isn’t…
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is a concept that has fascinated and puzzled people for centuries. The idea that a human body can suddenly burst into flames without an external source of ignition has intrigued and terrified people, appearing in both literature and alleged real-life cases. But is there any scientific basis to this phenomenon, or…
“Restrepo” is an outstanding documentary by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, capturing the US military experience in Afghanistan, reminiscent of the Vietnam War. For a year, they followed a platoon in the perilous Korangal valley as they built an outpost named after their fallen comrade, Private Juan “Doc” Restrepo, while also trying to win over…
The world of parasitic worms is both fascinating and horrifying. These uninvited guests can wreak havoc on their hosts, causing pain, discomfort, and even death. Here’s a list of seven parasitic worms that are particularly notorious for their impact on humans and other organisms. 1. Guinea Worm (Dracunculus medinensis) The Guinea worm, also known as…
My old classroom at Buena Park High school, where I taught before transferring to Sonora High School in 2009. I retired in 2022.
Sandy sitting in her favorite place.
I’ve always thought the Claremont Depot looked like a movie set.