Blood and Rainbows

I feel tentative about reading other writers’ blogs because when their writing is really strong, I get a little depressed. It’s sort of the “wish-I’d-written-that” syndrome, but not necessarily that simple. Reading good writing makes me feel and think with such intensity that I have to stop reading for a while.
There’s something inspiring about that [...]

Books: Real and Imagined

Today, I traversed the rows of an enormous field of used books, and I reaped hard. A local library held its annual book sale. For $15, you can fit as many books as possible in a medium-sized shopping bag. As the librarian who took my money pointed out, I had a little bit of room [...]

Who Put the “Blah” in Blogging? Oh, I Did.

The title of my last post explains why it’s been five months since I’ve written here. I had enjoyed blogging but hit a wall and hit it hard. I thought too much about audience and shut down. Basic Peter Elbow stuff.
It didn’t help that I know some terrific bloggers who balance head and heart in [...]

My 2008 List, in No Particular Order

I love year-end lists. I hate year-end lists. It’s helpful to take time to reflect, and I invariably learn about music, books, etc. that I would have otherwise missed. But there’s also something lazy about this list-making.
There’s an assumption that artistic achievement is obvious and measurable, even though most critics’ arguments for the greatness of [...]

What the Story Needs

I saw the film Doubt and liked it. Some critics have complained that the filmmaker attempts to get away with something by not revealing the truth about whether or not wrongdoing occurred. They apparently miss the point and, more important, don’t understand what story is being told.
The characters know what they know, but there is [...]