Monthly Archives: October 2011

Letting the Bears Loose in Zanesville

Sometimes art holds a mirror up to life, sometimes life imitates art. Wednesday’s story of exotic animals on the rampage in Zanesville, Ohio had me thinking we were in the middle of the John Irving novel Letting the Bears Loose. The story, in case you missed it, involved the owner of an exotic animal preserve […]

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No Man Is an Island (Not Even Revis)

New York Jet Darrelle Revis may be single man island who can shut down any receiver who comes near, but ultimately he must acknowledge, like John Donne, that no man is an island.

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An Austen Dinner for the Ages

On Sunday my Jane Austen First Year Seminar students came to my housefor a meal that we took out of the “Jane Austen Cookbook.” The meal took two days to prepare and four people to serve.

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My Memories of a Mountain Writer

May Justus, an Appalachian author who wrote children’s books and poetry, has a great poem about windy weather. Recalling it recently brought back other memories of this remarkable woman.

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May a Path of Moonlight Bring You Home

John O’Donohue’s “Bennacht (Blessing)” tells us that if we live in the world mindfully, the world will sustain us through the dark times.

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Feeling the Fission of a Hollywood Star

Judy Grahn sees our Hollywood stars as modern day Helen of Troys and explores their power over us.

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Austen Teaches Moral Compromise 101

The example of Edmund Bertram in Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park” helps us understand the less-than-ideal choices our leaders sometimes make as they negotiate a compromised world.

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Jane Austen and “Occupy Wall Street”

In “Mansfield Park” Jane Austen calls out the irresponsible wealthy in ways that the Occupy Wall Street protests would approve.

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The Black Dragon Scales of Grief

Nobel laureate Thomas Tranströmer’s poem “After a Death” accurately captures how it feels to lose someone you love.

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