Take me, I’m existentially yours (or, crisis—what crisis?)
This essay appeared as an "On the Avenues" column on January 1, 2019. For those reading from afar, be aware that in metro Louisville,...
Diary: Atlas Shrugged and how Bob Youngblood taught me to appreciate Charles Dickens
At best, I tend to regard Ayn Rand as a sociopath, and yet I’ve read her ball-boiling pot-buster (and seemingly interminable) novel Atlas Shrugged.
Why...
Menu Items: “Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants”
Originally published at the Food & Dining Magazine web site on 13 September 2020.
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Nothing could be more common than the salt and pepper on...
Daphne Phelps and “A House in Sicily”
The struggle to learn the language was wearing, when study necessarily took place after long days of dealing with endless kind visitors who felt...
I’m set to write a book about beer, or so this impending contract suggests
It is my pleasure to announce that a contract is impending with Bloomsbury Academic Inc. to write a book bearing the working title of...
Roger’s year in books and reading, 2021
When it comes to books, I’ve never seriously attempted to rank a year’s reading in terms of "best of" or the like. To be...
Does New Albany even have an intellectual history?
Originally written and published at NA Confidential on October 30, 2014.
ON THE AVENUES: Does New Albany even have an intellectual history?
The last time I...
Books and politics, with Roberto Bolaño and “The Savage Detectives”
In the year 2015 I ran for mayor of New Albany. During a candidate Q & A, I became the first mayoral candidate in...
My year in books, 2022
Just before I was born in 1960, my parents purchased a complete set of hardbound Compton's Encyclopedia and subscribed to the annual yearbook supplements....
My year in books and reading, 2023
Just before I was born in 1960, my parents purchased a complete hardbound set of the Compton’s Encyclopedia; furthermore, they subscribed to the annual...
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Euro Pilgrimage 1985-2025 Pt. 11: Sligo respite, Live Aid, then back to France for...
Previously: Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 10: Irish history with musical accompaniment and a Guinness chaser.
I exited the Sligo train station on a pleasant, sunny day...
40 Years in Beer, Part 80: Running Gravity Head’s daunting gauntlet (Act I: 1999...
Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II), Part 79: Stuck in a moment (and you can’t get out of it).
Gravity? It's the law.
Gravity is bigger...
Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 10: Irish history with musical accompaniment and a Guinness chaser
Van Diemen's Land was the original name for the island of Tasmania, located 400 miles south of Melbourne, and notorious during the 1800s for...
