I’m about to turn 36, at which point I will have spent more time on this earth than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart did. If you find that a morbid way to celebrate a birthday, then come on in–we’re just getting started. Please don’t get me wrong. I have a wonderful, happy, fulfilling life. But the day […]
Today marks the the 29th anniversary of one of literature’s most unusual exits. Tennessee Williams died on February 25, 1983 at the Elysee Hotel in New York. The first reports stated that he had died from natural causes, but an autopsy later revealed an unusual obstruction in his windpipe. He had choked to death on […]
John Updike died two years ago today, at the age of 76. I was teaching AP comp at the time, and I had recently finished teaching my students “A & P” and “Deaths of Distant Friends” when I saw the news of his death. I went out in the hall and saw one of my […]
I made a deal with my wife–I’ll read a Didion if you read a Roth. Today’s blog is brought to you by Renee Davis Brame. Several years ago, before I had children, I tore through a ton of Joan Didion’s work. I began with Play It As It Lays and ended with The Year of […]
UPDATE: This essay was published in Perspectives on Modern World History: The Challenger Disaster by Greenhaven Press. Of everything that ever happened to me as a child, nothing was as traumatic or meaningful as the explosion of the Challenger on January 28, 1986. It’s an event that I have never been able to shake, and I find […]
I had to give my students a crash-course in Edgar Allan Poe, so I dug up some old pictures of Ed and me. At Poe’s grave, 1999 Here I am at Edgar Allan Poe’s gravesite at the Westminster Burying Grounds. I lived in Baltimore for a year, in a rented rowhouse just a few miles […]
Today, I toured the underground crypt of Center Church. Follow me inside, if ye dare… (I was wondering where one goes to get a sign that reads “TO THE CRYPT.” Do you have to pay extra for that cutesy Edwardian hand pointing you in the right direction?) Today, a few friends and I toured the […]
Please allow me to introduce to you Handsome Dan, an English bulldog that Yale adopted in 1889 as their mascot. Here is a picture of him taken during the 1890s: And here is a picture I took of him today: Yes, the dog in the picture is the same dog that thrilled Yale supporters in […]
The pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales are traveling to the shrine of Thomas á Becket, whose tomb was one of the most important destinations for English Christians. But who was Thomas á Becket, and what made his shrine so revered among the people? It’s a pretty interesting story, actually. Thomas á Becket was born in […]