A Well Turned Phrase
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
—Hunter S. Thompson
It is useful to read certain authors before one realizes – either through one’s own or others’ critical diktats – that they should not in fact be read. Kipling floats in and out of fashion. When I encountered him I imagine he was pretty much out, but Just So Stories and the Jungle Books (titles whose destruction by Disney’s huns
... See moreAnd those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Stephen is out of action this week, laid low by some unknown virus. And, like a lot of people, he’s gone into a temporary hibernation — a pestilent torpor, punctuated by groans, sugary treats, and Apple TV. He’s retreated into the warm, snuggly comfort of his sick cave. A place, I imagine, not unlike a Neanderthal’s home.
—Big Think
It is officially the first day of fall. The leaves may have barely begun to turn, but, as Charlotte Mendelson reminds us, “ ’Tis the season of mist, nature’s Photoshop; trenchcoats; barley; licensed melancholy; munificence; and glorious rot.” It is a time when new growth ceases and gardens begin to wilt and shrivel. “After the
... See morePost Halloween School Instructions
I know the day after Halloween is extra hard when you're trying to get your kids up and ready for school. Because dressing a hungover, raging pterodactyl is not fun. But PLEASE do NOT bribe the groggy elementary goblins with trick or treat candy and send them to school with two fistfuls of Pixy Stix and a wish. We
... See moreits hazard lights bleating carmine auras into the morning mist.
David Shafer • Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
The night is so thick she can tell she is there only by the scraping of her feet and the tap, tapping of the stick in the loose gravel. A moonless night with only the call of the katydids and marsh frogs. A night to swallow you up, the stars hid by clouds, and memory guiding her tired feet home.
Gloria Naylor • Mama Day
Although he remained clean-shaven, Mommsen’s hair was always shoulder-length and untidy, turning grey and finally white, resembling a witch or a wizard, as his critics observed. Possibly through the fame of Mommsen, wild hair in old age became a recognizable badge of an eccentric professor or genius, cultivated later by Einstein and generations of
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