Published: December 28, 2011
Happy New You Year |
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12 Things for a Better New You Year
Be More Curious
Wonder more about things. Whether it’s art, music, politics or science, be more curious. Ask a few additional “whys” and then go seek the answers.
Make a Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is usually associated with a holy place, but you can define your own. Maybe it’s your hometown where [...]
Published: December 27, 2011
The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios |
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Eric Rasmussen. The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
A character in Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology observes that people thought him mad because his life goal was to memorize the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Shakespearean scholar makes a similar profession of lunacy regarding his decades’-long [...]
Published: December 24, 2011
Sacred Molecules |
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God is Born
The history of the cosmos
is the history of the struggle of becoming.
When the dim flux of unformed life
struggled, convulsed back and forth upon itself,
and broke at last into light and dark
came into existence as light,
came into existence as cold shadow
then every atom of the cosmos trembled with delight.
Behold, God is born!
He is bright [...]
Published: December 23, 2011
Santa Science |
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The holiday season brings with it many joys, and many questions.
A lot of the questions revolve around Santa Claus, and how can he be real. How can an old overweight man travel the earth delivering toys to children? How can his reindeer fly? How can he carry all those toys? How can he fit down [...]
Published: December 15, 2011
Sick PayOuts |
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The mayors of Franklin Lakes & Wyckoff recently joined NJ’s Governor during a speech in Teaneck where Christie was seeking to build momentum for an end to “sick day payouts”
Sick day payouts allow an employee to accrue unused sick days and cash them in at retirement. For some municipalities, facing a large number of retirements, [...]
Published: December 14, 2011
A Legal Tender |
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“It is something to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful, but it is more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which we morally can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest [...]
Published: December 8, 2011
December Reviews |
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Zombies vs. Unicorns
Edited by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black
Justine and Holly, the editors of this anthology, are engaged in a heated, friendly argument about which is cooler: zombies or unicorns? Justine is all about zombies; they are obviously much, much cooler. But Holly insists that beneath their glittery charm, unicorns are just as [...]
Published: December 6, 2011
Pearl Harbor |
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Remembering Pearl Harbor for the lives lost and the lessons that can be learned from America’s response.
Published: December 3, 2011
Roger Ebert. Life Itself: A Memoir |
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Roger Ebert. Life Itself: A Memoir.
New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2011.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Rituals are an important part of Roger Ebert’s life. He revisits people and events that have been formative for him. He revisits places through which his education and career have taken him: his hometown, Urbana, Illinois; the University of Illinois, [...]
Published: December 1, 2011
Christmas Food for Thought and Song |
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Christmas Food for Thought and Song
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
No one can deny the holidays are steeped in age-old traditions (well, unless you are an ardent follower of Festivus!). What’s interesting is that many foods mentioned in Christmas songs are foreign to most Americans. But they sure do sound good.
The Nutcracker, written by Pyotr [...]
