I remarked in an earlier blog that I understood why Ezra Pound resorted to inserting foreign words into some of his poetry. Sometimes English doesn’t have the right expressions to convey an idea or feeling. Frankly, I’d like the freedom to make up my own words like Lewis Carroll d

Truman Capote’s claim to have originated the journalistic novel could have been disputed by James Agee had he been alive. (“Truth Born of a Lie”, blog 5/23/13) In 1936 Agee, on assignment for Fortune magazine, was sent to Alabama to write about the life of cotton sharecroppers d

Writing a memoir is fashionable these days and because self-publishing is inexpensive, many of them land on Amazon beside Ernest Hemingway’s Moveable Feast and Winston Churchill’s autobiography about his participation in the Boer War. To be honest, most of them read like calendars

In this fast paced world of communication, I’m beginning to question who’s making the rules for our behavior? Peggy Post might be one. She writes a Good Housekeeping column where she grinds out answers for folks who feel they need direction. The other day a woman complained about

Though I take the usual precautions to avoid dying, there are times when I feel trapped in my body and would like to get out. Maybe what I’m looking for is a vacation from myself, but I think it’s more than that. I imagine there’s a door hidden deep in my mind, which, if opened,

Susan Stoner’s third mystery in her turn of the 19th century series features undercover detective Sage Adair at the top of his game. A labor strike, a union leader framed for murder, a rag picker poet and collapsing city bridges in the Pacific Northwest makes a tasty stew of murder

This week I came across an article about identify theft which offers tips worth passing along. As the author Laura Sinberg observes, “Hackers have become sophisticated at using one bit of information as a wedge to pry out more.” (“Build a fortress around your finances,” by Lau

“What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.” So wrote William Dean Howell, author and literary critic, to the great American writer Edith Wharton, (“Root and Branch” by Gary Greenberg, Harpers, June 2013, pg86) I had to smile when I read those word

In 1897 Father Damien, a Belgian, arrived at the leper colony in Molokai, Hawaii to minister to the sick. In 1884 he altered his Sunday sermon by beginning, not with his usual salutation, “You lepers…” but with a new one: “We lepers.” I remember weeping years ago when I came

Yesterday, I read an excerpt from a book, Give Me Everything You Have On Being Stalked, by James Lasdun. It’s a harrowing account of one woman’s relentless effort to use the internet to destroy the author’s reputation. Stephen King couldn’t have run a deeper chill down my spin