Starting with my dad, people have been telling me to Stand Up Straight all my life. He told me. The Army told me. My friends told me, and probably a few enemies. No one ever told me how, until last year, when my chiropractor was moved to show me a little exercise in which I […]
Three Little Words Read More »
Orson Scott Card, known for his award-winning novel Ender’s Game, has achieved unusual notoriety for a bestselling author. While many readers praise Card’s writing ability, they sometimes struggle promoting his work since they disagree with his views on gay marriage. Gay rights activists have boycotted Card’s work on multiple occasions, successfully keeping a Superman story
Story First, Author Second: Drawbacks of Judging Literature By An Author’s Character Read More »
While crime fiction has gained some respect over the past twenty years, it’s still usually pigeon-holed as “genre fiction,” or some other label that signifies “not literature.” If “literature” is whatever certified English Professors think it is, then I’m qualified to disagree with the pigeon-holers. I don’t often use the term “literature,” but if I
A few years ago, the Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature for his poetic contributions in American music. Good for Bob, I say. I’ve been a fan ever since I first heard Blood on the Tracks at the age of twelve. Not so good for Bob, as it turns out. As
Ranked Things and the Ranking Rankers Who Rank Them Read More »
As my daughter Stella gets older, I sometimes think back to my childhood. The very young years are often a blur. I do remember feeling loved and safe and being filled with wonder. My earliest memory is from about four years old, I would guess, and I am in the front room of the first
Winter is a dangerous time of year for a gardener. The catalogs feature rediscovered heirloom seeds with gorgeous sounding names: Dragon’s Tongue beans, Crimson Curtain and Banana Leg tomatoes, Painted Serpent cucumbers, King of the North peppers. They sound like legends and poetry. The herbs sound like characters from old fairy tales with names like
Our Green Heritage: Heirlooms & Hothouses Read More »