Essay: In praise of the backup catcher
Throughout this major league baseball season, I’ve been cheering on one particular player — Austin Romine. Never heard of him? Not surprising. He’s the backup catcher of the New [...]
Poem: “How puzzle the prayer”
How puzzle the prayer Walking seminary fields, silent-hour recollection days, calloused caress of color and blaze, sharp tender bright air slicing wet morning grass. Filled with [...]
Essay: Why write?
Since the age of 12 when I had my first byline on a Father’s Day essay in the neighborhood newspaper, I’ve been addicted to writing. Over the years, I’ve [...]
Book Review: “The Plan of Chicago” By Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett
I’m a card-carrying nerd and a guy who, during a long career at the Chicago Tribune and later in other forums, has written much about cities and demographics. And [...]
Book review: “Island of the Sequined Love Nun” by Christopher Moore
As usual, Christopher Moore is goofy and silly in Island of the Sequined Love Nun, his fourth novel, published in 1997. Consider the back story of his central character [...]
Book review: “Barchester Towers” by Anthony Trollope
Barchester Towers, like the other five novels in Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barset, is characterized by psychological nuance and an affection for humanity in all its waywardness. There are [...]
Book review: “Pyramids” by Terry Pratchett
So, it’s nearly the final page of Terry Pratchett’s 1989 Discworld novel Pyramids, and his recurring character, called Death (because he is), suddenly finds himself with a problem: [...]
Book review: “Brunelleschi’s Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence” by Ross King
Okay, I recognize that — as Ross King writes in Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence — building the dome over the long-undomed Santa [...]
Book review: “Michelangelo & the Pope’s Ceiling” by Ross King
It’s a daunting task to write the story of the creation of a work of art and, even more, for one that comprises a multiplicity of art works. After all, [...]
Book review: “Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Making of the American Revolution” by D. Peter MacLeod
Most accounts of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also called the Battle of Quebec — a turning point in the history of North America, when Canada became [...]