The Best Moments from John Lewis’s Graphic Novel of the Civil Rights Movement, Pt. 3

Detail of Edmund Pettis Bridge from March trilogy slipcase cover. This is the last of a three-part post on John Lewis’s graphic novel series, March, which is made up of three books—March: Book One (2013), March: Book Two (2015), and March: Book Three (2016). As I noted in my previous two posts, despite its being …

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Excerpts from Major American Poets: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

As previously noted, I recently started reading a couple cast-off mid-20th-century anthologies of American poetry. As I move through them, I’m going to post interesting snippets from some of the authors in chronological order. Today's poet is the great Ralph Waldo Emerson. As most American readers will know, Emerson is one of the towering literary …

Frankencorgies: 22 of My Favorite Corgi Mixes

Sometimes dog breeders are straight-up mad scientists and I love it. Particularly when it involves crossing corgis with various other breeds. Sometimes, when Hannah and I are lounging around needing a little pick-me-up, we’ll just search up corgis crossed with other breeds. Some results are disturbing, but most of the time, they’re just super cute. …

Excerpts from Major American Poets: Edward Taylor (1642-1729)

Just for fun, I’ve recently started reading a couple cast-off old anthologies of American poetry published in the middle of the last century. It’s sometimes a slog, to be sure, but I do find interesting snippets here and there. I’ve decided to start posting some of them in chronological order by poet. The vast majority …

So Much to Look Forward to: 12 Insane Reasons Kids Cry

Someday, Lawd-willin', I will become a parent. Is it wrong to say that I'm at least 30% dreading it? Of course, after being a Middle School teacher for five years, it's really amazing I still want kids at all. I have so much respect for parents. Mine deserve all the medals just for putting up …

“Small Miracles”, Pt. 2: Eight True Stories of Astonishing Coincidences

“Miracles are not contrary to nature. They’re just contrary to what we know about nature.”-- Timothy Egan For shits and giggles, I recently read a little cast-off devotional book—the cloying sort your grandma would love—called Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life (1997), by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal. As I explained in my last …

“Small Miracles”, Pt. 1: An Introduction

Scene from 1963's Lilies of the Field, with Sidney Poitier. Sometimes, as I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I like to pick up relatively random books and read them just for shits and giggles. I recently did that with a book someone donated to me called Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life (1997), by …

The More Walt Whitman Strove for Perfection, the More it Eluded Him

God comes a loving bed-fellow and sleeps at my side all night and close on the peep of the day,And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their plenty.— Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” One of the more interesting things I’ve read recently about the creative process is poet Galway …

The Best Moments from John Lewis’s Graphic Novel of the Civil Rights Movement, Pt. 2

March: Book Two, cover detail As I wrote in Part 1: I knew the late John Lewis was an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement, but until I read his graphic novel series chronicling the era, I had no idea just how involved he was. From 1960 through to the passage of the Voting …

12 Silly Poems on Married Life by Ogden Nash

Sometimes I like to pick up relatively random books and read them just for shits and giggles. One such book I read recently was a book of silly poems about marriage by Ogden Nash (1902-1971), entitled Marriage Lines. Nash is famous for silly little poems that play around with the English language, such as this …