Lucky, this point in time and space Is chosen as my working place Where the sexy airs of summer, The bathing hours and the bare arms, The pleasant drives through a land of farms, Are good to a newcomer. –Auden
Browsing category blogging
Flynn and I are going on a mini-break next month. The last time we were together we were both living in the North of England. I was working for the Crown Prosecution Service and she was studying literary criticism and pulling pints in the Northern Quarter. I have some vague recollection of looking at bones
No one does interviews quite like The Paris Review. In a 1984 interview, Thomas Frick asked English novelist and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction, JG Ballard, how a book took shape for him. Ballard’s reply follows: “That’s a vast topic and, to be honest, one I barely understand. Even in
The documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele (2005) follows Eva Mozes Kor, a Holocaust survivor, and her decision to forgive the Nazis who killed her family, in particular Dr. Josef Mengele who experimented on 1,400 pairs of twins including Eva and her twin sister, Miriam. In 1944 Eva’s family were taken to Auschwitz where she and her
I have the loveliest back garden. With climbing ivy and purple flowers and white hydrangeas and a massive rose bush covered in little yellow sprays. Two tomato trees I’m determined to grow. My mother grew hundreds. Quite literally, hundreds. I can grow two. Probably not. I thought, for a moment, back in May, I’d like
I love these houses. They’re on the beach, next to where we stay, and I take tons of photos whenever we’re there. I want to live in the green one and write on the widows walk in the early a.m. I want to pull my hair up, slap on some factor fifty and drink something-fruity
Being a coal miner’s daughter myself, I’m contractually obligated to bring up Loretta Lynn whenever I can swing it. But I’d like to think I’d do it anyway. Even if I weren’t. When you grow up on in a holler like I did, wanting to overcome the mountains with your art, you sometimes think there’s
I’m allergic to the sun. More or less. Mostly more. I don’t exactly burst into flames. Not exactly. But there is that blinding light that radiates from my legs. (Although I like to think of it more as a Twilight-Style sparkle.) Still, there’s something hypnotic and pulling about the ocean. It’s the four elements thing.
I have five stock smiles I choose from when cheesing for a photo. The Euro says I should throw the stock away. Go natural. But the truth is, my eyes are a bit boggly and it takes very little for me to look certifiably insane. Case in point – my genuine, unfeigned delight as I
Enlarge: Pillar and Jets – Hubble Space Telescope First, click to enlarge this image. Enlarge it again. Now, imagine it the size of your house. If you get a chance to watch Hubble 3D at IMAX, do so. The Euro and I, planning strategically, showed up on Friday morning, at a ridiculously early hour, so
“There is, after all, something eternal that lies beyond reach of the hand of fate and of all human delusions.” – Einstein There’s not a whole lot one can do with ancient Aramaic or Koine Greek except be Indiana Jones or get a diploma in theology and religion. I wanted the former. I got the
