…the goal of reading is to go beyond the author’s ideas to thoughts that are increasingly autonomous, transformative, and ultimately independent of the written text. … The experience of reading is not so much an end in itself as it is our best vehicle to a transformed mind, and, literally and figuratively, to a changed… Continue reading Book Review: “Proust and the Squid”
Category: Society & Culture
Jason Polan: The Art of Texas Law
I don’t remember how I stumbled across it, but The 20×200 Blog is a fascinating showcase for a wide variety of artists. If you like what you see, you can buy the artwork for a fixed price of $20, $200, or $2,000, depending on the size of the piece. Anyway, one of the posts that… Continue reading Jason Polan: The Art of Texas Law
“Lebanon and the End Times”
The current conflict between Israel and Lebanon should provoke some serious thought about “end times”…but maybe not the ones you normally think about when you hear that term.
Ian’s Out
Ian Woods won’t finish his cross-country cycling trip…at least, not this year.
Funereal Observations
Funeral directors have challenging jobs, to say the least, but I never before considered that engineering might be part of the package.
Book Review: “A Reader’s Manifesto”
The subtitle to B.R. Myers’s A Reader’s Manifesto is An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose. This slim (89 pages) volume is indeed an attack, and it apparently struck its intended targets. After one lukewarm attempt at self-publishing the original manuscript under the title of Gorgons in the Pool, it was picked… Continue reading Book Review: “A Reader’s Manifesto”
The Kindness of Strangers – A True Christmas Story
The following story is included in the Christmas cards my mother sent out this year. It’s a true story; I know this because it happened to her. My 2005 Christmas Blessing On December 9, 2005, my younger brother in Salt Lake City received a phone call from a person whom he had never met, and… Continue reading The Kindness of Strangers – A True Christmas Story
Book Review: “The Devil’s Highway”
In May, 2001 25 men and one boy set out across the Sonoran Desert, determined to cross into southern Arizona, between Yuma and Nogales, from their native Mexico. Crossing into the US was easy; finding their way to civilization was deadly. Fourteen of them perished in the attempt. Luis Alberto Urrea reconstructs the details of… Continue reading Book Review: “The Devil’s Highway”
Flip-flops: Comfortable footwear or a harbinger of the End Times?
You wanna tell a female lacrosse player that she can’t wear flip-flops? It’s your funeral, bucko.
Never Forget
Observing Memorial Day 2005