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: Looking for a good biography of Eugene V. Debs? This isn’t it
This being an election year — and accordingly, utterly infuriating on a daily basis for the MAGA stupidity it embodies — I thought it...
“When the Doves Disappeared,” a novel by Sofi Oksanen
The novel is called When the Doves Disappeared, written by the Finnish/Estonian author Sofi Oksanen. The English translation was released in 2015. The publisher...
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...
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...
Books: “Bowling for Communism” in Leipzig
Leipzig was among the East German cities to be visited in 1989 during my August working holiday in the GDR, but the group excursion...
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...
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....
Times change, but Ernest Hemingway was an inspiration to this youthful traveler
Originally published as "(Ernest) Hemingway in a time of mercifully silent thunder" on April 23, 2020. A Ken Burns documentary about Hemingway is coming...
“Trieste,” a novel by Daša Drndić
It can be daunting, perhaps even crippling, to consider the immensity of what remains unknown about the wider world. What we as individuals know...
Latest article
The Songs for a (P&u) Departure (1): “These cameras never lie”
We're told that Nov. 15 will be the last day for Pints&union in New Albany prior to the pub decamping for the Highlands: Here’s the...
Speaking of epitaphs, a wonderful song called “Get Out and Stay Out”
"Get Out and Stay Out" was recorded for the 1979 Quadrophenia film soundtrack and wasn't part of the original album in 1973. That's Kenney...
Here’s the epitaph: “In the end, Pints&union didn’t deserve New Albany”
It usually surprises people to learn that I’ve lived in Floyd County, Indiana my entire life, and in New Albany since the early 1990s....
