Monthly Archives: August 2009

Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of Arrested Adolescence

Here’s a gem from Sunday’s NY Times “Inside the List” piece in the Book Review: HARRY POTTER, YEAR ZERO: Speaking of Harry, here are the 10 titles grown-ups were reading when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the first book … Continue reading

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To Peak or Not To Peak, That Is the Question: Peak Oil Hubbub in the NY Times

So I’m reading the NY Times this morning and encounter a head-in-the-sand scolding the notion of Peak Oil here: www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/opinion/25lynch.html I’ve read much about this idea and some of it includes (hopefully) laughable doomsday scenarios, and some of it seems … Continue reading

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On Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," Per Petterson's "Out Stealing Horses," and Vladimir Nabokov's "Laughter in the Dark"

I wrote the following as a request for a former student, to be posted on the Southeast Review’s webpage: Mystery in Storytelling One of the tricks in story telling—and believe me, there’s a hundred tricks that the best writers use … Continue reading

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Another Reason to Love Facebook: Newsweek's "Isolation Increases in U.S."

So I noticed this little gem this morning, in Newsweek, an article titled “Isolation Increases in U.S.” (www.newsweek.com/id/213088) Here’s a quote from it: “Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately … Continue reading

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Motel Hell: Free HBO! With "Red Dawn" Exclusive!

After about two weeks of traveling, which included visiting family in St. Louis, I’m back in Pennsylvania, house painting, breathing a sigh that I have DirecTV again. The various motels we slept in while crossing the Heartland all seemed to … Continue reading

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