I honestly thought that nothing — nothing — could get me to read Jane Austen again. I know that she has some devoted fans, but those Victorian manners-and-money romances were really not my thing. I was frustrated, even as a teenager, by female characters who seemed completely powerless. Elizabeth Bennet, her life ruined because some man she doesn’t even like doesn’t want to dance with her? How ridiculous! But in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, she has some recourse… [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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Among the many pleasures reading fiction can afford, perhaps the greatest and most lasting has to do with the people one encounters there. Ever since I first met them during my teens, I have thought of D’Artagnan and his fellow musketeers — Athos, Porthos and Aramis — as friends. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Anna Karenina and Prince Hamlet can seem more real than the people one meets in the street, perhaps because, through the exercise of our imagination, we have helped bring them to life.

But how like the people we meet in real life are they really? [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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With the summer drought officially in full swing, I thought I’d take this time to pay tribute to some of my favorite shows which never made it past a single season and let you know how you can still watch them. These two shows not only should have never been cancelled, but they should’ve won awards. It’s hard to say why some great shows don’t make it (the WB might be one reason), but I do know that it hurts… badly… when they don’t. Fortunately, the Internet and Netflix help us remember. [Read more →]

Tags: television by Lauren LaBumbard
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I won’t often devote this column to poetry. Since much of the best poetry is written in shorter forms, it doesn’t really fall within the scope of a “great books” column. (Though, even as I write this, it occurs to me that I may have to write about handfuls of poems by Stevens, Wilbur, and others, someday.) But, I could not long put off writing about T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, for me the best long poem of the English language of the 20th century. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, now read this! by Christopher Guerin
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Only an individual with the most daft understanding of poetics would fail to appreciate the tragic irony of Dr. George Tiller, famed late-term abortionist, being murdered by a “pro-life” advocate in the lobby of his Lutheran church as he served as an usher. [Read more →]

Tags: on the law, religion & philosophy by Nathan Cushing
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I generally write about the negative side of sports. I guess it’s easier to criticize than to praise. Comes with the territory, when you are in quality assurance, I guess. Sometimes, though, a positive story just jumps out at you, and you want to make sure as many people as possible know about it. Myron Rolle has one of those stories.

[Read more →]

Tags: sports by Alan Spoll
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10. He leaves early so he can catch the new Star Trek movie ­– again

9. When he rented his tux, he couldn’t afford the pants

8. He keeps calling you “Mommy”

7. The “corsage” he brings you has a sash across it reading “Rest In Peace”

6. He keeps saying, “Who’d a thunk?! Me! At a prom!!”

5. He can’t stop talking about Hannah Montana

4. He says his parents expect him home by 9:30

3. He’s pinned a carnation to his chest, and he’s not wearing a jacket or shirt

2. When he takes you to McDonald’s afterwards, before you order he whispers, “Remember, I ain’t Mr. Moneybags!”

1. He shows up wearing the same dress

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, education by Bob Sullivan
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