DRAPED by Melodie Johnson Howe In crazed moment I went to Bed Bath and Beyond (I never understood what the Beyond meant. Heaven? Hell? No Returns?) and bought some drapes for my office. I pounced on a wonderful silk stripe that looked like a man’s dressing gown from the 1930s-40s. Perfect! Now the drapes are […]

RESTING ACTORS AND THE HYDRAULIC THEORY OF COMPOSITION by Janice Law The British have a charming term for out of work actors: they are said to be “resting.” What a nice thought, and one that is apt for writers as well. Certainly there are writers who never turn from the oar—what the nineteenth century called […]

DARK KNIGHT by Leigh Lundin Just over a week ago, Warner Bros. launched The Dark Knight Rises web site, the latest update of our old Detective Comics friend, Batman. The odd thing is that except for a sort of chant, the web site appears entirely black. Clever fans figured out the soundtrack isn’t merely a […]

AN UNFORTUNATE CHOICE OF WORDS by John M. Floyd At our church a few weeks ago—and I’m not kidding, here—I was reading the printed bulletin during the first hymn, and I noticed this, written on page two: “It’s a glorious day—Stand up and sin!” I consider myself fairly open-minded, but a church bulletin seemed to […]

TYPING WITH NINE DIGITS by Steven Steinbock Let’s get the preliminaries out of the way. I broke my hand. It happened a week ago, a result of a slippery shower floor, a clumsy reach for a fallen bar of soap, and a hard marble ledge. I cursed myself, and after I’d dried off and dressed, […]

WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT? by Deborah Elliott-Upton Like the rest of us, I am bombarded by information every day – some of it interesting enough to keep locked away in my mind’s filing system or at least scribbled in a notebook for future use. Some of it may help me on “Jeopardy” or a […]

CIVIL CASE by Rob Lopresti Dr Calvin C. Chaffee, from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The American Civil War began in April 1861, which means that for 150 years and 1 month people have been debating what caused it. I am happy to report that that argument has been settled at last. […]