Monthly Archives: January 2015

In the Words of FZ…

… “the torture never stops.” Mitt Romney’s decision not to run for President in 2016 is, I think, a wise choice both for himself and for folks leaning toward the GOP. I think he was, and is, a very good … Continue reading

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It’s National Kazoo Day!

It’s a day to honor the humble instrument, used by kids (well, this particular former kid, anyway) to annoy adults from time immemorial (or again, at least since the early 1970s). As it happens, the kazoo has featured in the … Continue reading

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QotD: Scatological Edition

I’ve been reading Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination with one of our seniors over the last couple of weeks, and we reached the conclusion today, where Frye argues that the study of literature matters because it develops the imagination. This is … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Education, Politics | 1 Comment

A Dispatch From When Rock and Roll Was Dangerous

The latest issue of Shindig! magazine includes a lengthy article on how the Pretty Things, perhaps England’s most vicious R&B group, spent 1965. Several paragraphs are devoted to a show the band did at a festival in the Netherlands in the town … Continue reading

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Mad Dog, Matt Scudder, and Hoops

I’m currently sitting downstairs with the Mad Dog, who came into town so that we could go to Real City and watch the University of Kentucky’s basketball team vanquish the team from Flagship U. (The Spawn has granted me a … Continue reading

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A Drugstore Full of Ghosts

The Spawn and I were driving around this afternoon, and we stopped at a local drugstore so that she could subject some of their hair products to scrutiny — it’s sort of a hobby for her these days. While she … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Family, Literature | 6 Comments

Oh, That’s Right

One of the drawbacks of being somewhere between a bibliophile and bibliomaniac is that I sometimes acquire books and forget having done so. For example, when I was in Kalamazoo last year, I picked up a copy of Paul Strohm’s Chaucer’s … Continue reading

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Distance Learning

Mondoville College is unusual among colleges our size in that we had three former students on NFL rosters this season. We’re proud of all of them — and of nearly all the kids who have wandered around this place in … Continue reading

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Thud. And Potpourri.

A big-shot agent reached out to me not long ago. He said he had read one of my stories recently, and was interested in checking out some other of my work. I sent him some of the novel I’ve been … Continue reading

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Blogging Encapsulated

And if you aren’t a regular reader of Wondermark, you should be.

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