Joan Didion and Betty White

This is from some time ago (early 2015). Last week, before I knew she was the new face of Celine (also, before I knew was Celine was), I shared Joan Didion's "At the Dam." I was taught this essay, and I teach it. Not because Joan Didion is fashionable at the moment, but because it's … Continue reading Joan Didion and Betty White →

This Website Maps Your Literary Tastes and Tendencies

Literature Map says: What else do readers of [any other famous author] read? The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them. Click on any name to travel along. Did it map you right?

Required Reading: “Last Picnic” by Charles Simic

I found this poem by accident one spring a few years ago. You should read it. Here.

The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: An Interactive Wonder You’ll Spend Hours On Just Because

This links to the sections focusing on 500-1000 A.D, but I bet you can't stop there.

This Sentence Has Five Words (Practical Advice on Better Writing)

A good and very practical demonstration on what the ear wants from the late Gary Provost: "This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record. … Continue reading This Sentence Has Five Words (Practical Advice on Better Writing) →

Required Reading: The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

Not that I'm measuring my life out in coffee-spoons or anything, but, for context, this was posted in 2015: Prufrock turns 100 this year, T.S. Eliot 122. Read it here. Read it now.

The Secret Life of Dagwood Bumstead

If you don't know about Don Markstein's Toonopedia, you should go to there. How else are you supposed to know that Dagwood was born into a wealthy family and shunned because he loved and married the working-class Blondie Boopadoop? How else are you supposed to know she's Blondie nee Boopadoop? Or that Thurston Howell voiced … Continue reading The Secret Life of Dagwood Bumstead →