Thursday I got the Beetle back. It had been in the shop for a week and a half, after I had broken the key off in the ignition. It should not have taken that long, but the newly cut key Volkswagen sent wasn’t cut properly — keys for the Beetle are laser-etched, for security purposes … Continue reading Returning to a Cemetery
Tag: History
I love it when Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, writes me. He’s usually incensed about something and expects me to be so, as well. And, of course, he then hits me up for money. What has raised his ire this week? President Obama’s appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast, which I … Continue reading The Ire of Reince Priebus
This morning, while I was listening to Scott Simon on NPR’s Weekend Edition and waiting for the coffee to kick in, I saw that a friend posted a question on Facebook about Beowulf. No, not the Robert Zemekis film. The Anglo-Saxon epic poem on which the Zemekis film was based. What, he wanted to know, … Continue reading On Musing about Beowulf and Its Culture
For March I’m planning a trip to New York City. I put my vacation request in yesterday for a few days in the middle of the month. The Lewis Chessmen are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through early April, and they’re something I would very much like to see while they’re on … Continue reading On the Lewis Chessmen
In less than two weeks the United States will mark a solemn and unfortunate anniversary, the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I bring this up, not to disturb the memories of some who are still traumatized by the incident, but because of a recent poll that asked Americans what they thought the world would be like … Continue reading On the Presidency of Al Gore
At times, I think of myself as an amateur historian. It's unsurprising that I think of myself in that way; I was a history student in college, after all, and my library is filled with history books, from general histories of the world to histories of specific periods to histories of specific ideas. Among the … Continue reading On Fascinating Periods of History
I read a novel because of Hawkman. As some may know, I love Hawkman. I think I love Hawkman more as a concept than as a character — there’s something indescribably awesome about a character who straps mechanical wings to his back, flies around, and beats the crap out of evildoers with his giant spiky … Continue reading On Ann Brashare’s My Name Is Memory
For reasons that are obscure even to me, on a bulletin board I frequent there is a discussion going about whether or not, in the United Kingdom, holidays like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July are celebrated. To those reading across the Pond, I apologize for the obtuseness of my fellow countrymen. We have a … Continue reading On the Meaning of Thanksgiving
An unexpected package arrived in the mail today. “The Hidden History of the United States 2011 Calendar,” courtesy of The Progressive. I subscribed to The Progressive for a few years, from ’98 to ’02. What soured me on the magazine was Howard Zinn’s response to 9/11, which I seem to remember as a “We brought … Continue reading On a Calendar in the Mail
Friday evening, I received a press release from NASA. The reason? The twenty-fifty anniversary of Voyager 2’s closest encounter to Uranus. Voyager Celebrates 25 Years Since Uranus Visit Jet Propulsion Laboratory January 21, 2011 As NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made the only close approach to date of our mysterious seventh planet Uranus 25 years ago, … Continue reading On 25 Years Since Voyager 2’s Uranus Encounter
One of the problems with political discourse today is that those on the right and the left not only see the world differently but they talk about the world differently. Words have different meanings on the left and the right. A friend, one that has, in my view, gone unfortunately off the deep end into … Continue reading On a Facebook Comment Worth Preserving
My friend Julio Angel Ortiz tagged me with this on Facebook: The Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who’ve influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Try to tag at least fifteen friends, … Continue reading On 15 Influential Authors