Wednesday On Monday I hosted what proved to be a lovely luncheon (an onion tart, ratatouille, and a trifle) for Vanderbilt University Librarian Valerie Hotchkiss, who was in Sewanee to discuss a presentation I will be giving at the university on the card game Speculation. Jane Austen fans will recognize it as the game played […]
Monthly Archives: August 2019
The Dreadful Sound of Trump (not that one)
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Cock-Crowing", "Second Coming", "On the Cards and Dice", Cards, D. H. Lawrence, games, Henry Vaughan, Jane Austen, Jesus, Man Who Died, Mansfield Park, Resurrection, Sir Walter Raleigh Comments closed
Fantasy Adventure, an Aid to Hiking
Monday Literary Hub has alerted me to an article on the importance of Lord of the Rings to long-distance hikers. According to a Rebecca Booroojian Outsider essay, many people have Lord of the Rings trail names (especially Gandalf), and inscriptions from the trilogy can be found in abundance. For instance, one will find everywhere Bilbo’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Appalachian Trail, hiking, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings Comments closed
Reluctance to Go to School
Friday School has already opened in some states (Tennessee) and has yet to open in others (Maryland) so I’ve split the difference by choosing today to honor the occasion. Jonathan Swift’s mention of a laggard schoolbody in “A Description of the Morning” has always fascinated me. “Description of the Morning” gives an account of the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Description of a City Morning", Jonathan Swift, schooling, William Blake Comments closed
Yes, Liberty Statue Means What We Think
Friday Because the Trump administration periodically attempts to redefine the Statue of Liberty and reframe Emma Lazarus’s accompanying lyric, I am reposting a very smart essay that a former colleague wrote about the statue and the poem. Donna Richardson establishes that the two together create a special synergy that has defined us as a nation. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "New Colossus", anti-immigration policy, Donald Trump, Emma Lazarus, Statue of Liberty Comments closed
The World Is a Dead Thing for Them
Wednesday In recent years, conservatives have at least paid lip service to protecting the environment—after all, isn’t conservatism about conserving?—and Richard Nixon even signed the Endangered Species Act. Now, however, it appears that the Trump administration is unashamedly bent on squeezing every red cent it can out of the earth, consequences for future generations be […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Ceremony, Donald Trump, Endangered Species Act, Environmental destruction, Leslie Marmon Silko Comments closed
Haunted by Abraham Lincoln
Tuesday I walked away from Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln Museum yesterday thoroughly depressed and had to spend some time figuring out why. I think it’s because, while Lincoln ultimately prevailed in an impossible situation, I don’t see any Lincolns today. Our current polarization, while not as severe as in slave times, often appears beyond the help […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight", Abraham Lincoln, polarization, Vachel Lindsay Comments closed
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Crannied Wall
Monday On the way back from a family function in Iowa, Julia, my mother and I stopped off in Springfield, Il. Yesterday we visited the spectacular house that Frank Lloyd Wright built for Dana Thomas in 1902-04. Upon entering the structure, we were greeted by a statue bearing the label of a Tennyson poem. Looking […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Flower in a Crannied Wall", Alfred Lord Tennyson, architecture and nature, Dana Thomas House, Frank Lloyd Wright Comments closed
