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Cat poetry
With regards poetry, I like simple and to the point, yet meaningful and deliberately structured ... the way I like novels too, I suppose. That's probably why I like haiku, and Emily Dickinson. The following poems are from Cat Talk by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest (the book is also worth it for the watercolors by Barry Moser ( Read more... ) -
Folklore and the Internet
June 25, 2009 began as a normal day. I was in Bloomington, Indiana, teaching an introductory folklore class (cleverly disguised as a sociology course) for the local community college. About an hour into our discussion, one of my students' phones began to vibrate loudly. I leveled him with a stern "teacher's glare" as he silenced his phone, but not ( Read more... ) -
Beauty
I have finally discovered the most beautiful woman in the world, and I don't even know her name ( Read more... ) -
Ireland's conversion
I remember vaguely learning that Ireland's conversion to Christianity was more "peaceful" and willing than I typically hear about (convert or die) in other places. I also vaguely remember something about the pagans of that time having no problem paying respect the gods of other peoples whenever they met, and their initial acceptance of the ( Read more... ) -
You big geek
Nightmare alley: film noir and the American dream, Mark Osteen.
"Is a guy born that way?"
Stan Carlisle (Tyrone Power), the protagonist of Edmund Goulding's Nightmare Alley, asks this question about the geek, an abject figure on the lowest rung of the carnival hierarchy, whose chief task is to bite off the heads of chickens. One of the darkest ( Read more... ) -
Under oath
From Who was William Shakespeare? : an introduction to the life and works, by Dympna Callaghan.
Language is the defining characteristic of human identity, and Caliban's is some of the most powerful and eloquent in the play [The Tempest]. Yet, Prospero treats him as subhuman, and Trinculo, finding him sheltering under a "gabardine" in the rain, ( Read more... ) -
Where do I get these ideas?
Artistically, I am on a futuristic kick. Instead of working in a crappy library basement, I am in such a high-rise building that there are space vehicles flying around outside my window. I can see the Horsehead Nebula from here. My computer is a holographic interface connecting me to people from different parts of the galaxy in six million forms of ( Read more... ) -
Relativity explained
From Epic of evolution : seven ages of the cosmos, by Eric Chaisson ; illustrated by Lola Judith Chaisson ( Read more... ) -
Library pictures
I am testing some HTML so I can post an entry to a community and look good doing it.
( Places I must visit ) -
The private lives of bees
Asian honey bees: biology, conservation, and human interactions, by Benjamin P. Oldroyd and Siriwat Wongsiri. Very fascinating book ( Read more... )