To Bail or not to Bail
Recently David Brooks posted a New York Times op-ed lamenting an increase in “bailing,” which he defines as “flaking” on social commitments. The title...
Mr. Sillypants Goes to Washington
In a folder of papers at my desk there are reminders of things to do sometime, although they aren’t urgent. Waiting to be filed...
And Then Came The Chickens—After the Bobcat: A Dispatch
Heaven favored me with three successive clement weekends.
On Father’s Day (With an Apostrophe)
Grand Rapids, MI
Father’s Day is around the corner. I had to look up the term to see if it has an apostrophe. It does,...
Bruce Langhorne, RIP
Bruce Langhorne, best known as the inspiration for Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" but best loved (by me, anyway) for his extraordinary score for...
Politics as Religion: A Brief Assay Essayed after Midnight
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; / Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
What the Smartphone is Good For (Besides Nothing)
The invaluable works of our elder writers, I had almost said the works of Shakespeare and Milton, are driven into neglect.
Two Last Suppers and Ordinary Greatness: A Double Eulogy
What are the compensations on the downhill side of life?
Don’t Miss This Book
Front Porcher Rob Grano has a lovely little review of John Lewis-Stempel's The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland. It's over...