Sondheim on Film
Stephen Sondheim was taken from us in late 2021, but since his posthumous cameo in Glass Onion, the wildly uneven follow-up to Knives...
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Feb 24, 20231 min read
No One Tells You: A Poem
There are things you assume you know— the waves of emotion, the choice of conflagration or inhumation, the cavern in your heart. But...
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Feb 17, 20236 min read
Anatomies of Influence 3: Funky Harry
Influences on writers don’t have to be writers, do they? As I went down the rabbit hole of thinking about influences on my life and work,...
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Feb 10, 20238 min read
Anatomies of Influence 2: The Critic
We were in a critical writing class at Bennington College, circa 2003, and a student was reading a paper that celebrated the then...
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Feb 3, 202310 min read
Anatomies of Influence 1: James Gregory
Do you ever overhear yourself thinking? Let me put that another way before you click to another site. The late literary critic Harold...
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Jan 27, 20234 min read
The Bluffs at Lost Creek: A Memory of Dad
On May 16, 2021, over one hundred family members and friends gathered at the Sumiton Community Center in Walker County, Alabama, for a...
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Jan 20, 20235 min read
On Wagner and Disconnect
I get into obsessions. After weeks of reading Browning’s poetry, I’ll switch to Sondheim and there will be weeks of listening, humming,...
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Jan 13, 202316 min read
The Juvenilia: First Words
Everyone has apprentice plays. Most people don’t know Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams wrote dozens of plays (rarely performed now)...
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Jan 6, 20232 min read
Dropping in a Tome
I can remember being as young as six and needing books around me constantly, though I wasn't sure I could read well. I liked books, the...
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Dec 30, 202213 min read
2022 in Perspective
Greetings as we ring out the old and ring in the new! I want to thank those of you who have supported the new website and Facebook page...
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Dec 23, 20222 min read
Top 10 Christmas Movies
Just in time for Christmas, I share with you my top 10 Christmas movies. This, and other lists, can be found in the Hardcover or...
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Dec 16, 202213 min read
1987: The World's Worst Year for Movies
One of my favorite books growing up was Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide. Maltin is a highly influential film critic for writing only capsule...
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Dec 9, 20223 min read
Favorites Part 5: Television/Theatre/Opera
For the last few weeks, I've been sharing my favorite works of art. These were not necessarily my answers to "What is the best movie/tv...
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Dec 2, 20223 min read
Favorites Part 4: Movies
For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my favorite works of art. These are not necessarily my answers to "What is the best movie/tv...
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Nov 25, 20226 min read
Favorites Part 3: Writing
For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my favorite works of art. These are not necessarily my answers to "What is the best movie/tv...
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Nov 18, 20223 min read
Favorites Part 2: Art
For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my favorite works of art. These are not necessarily my answers to "What is the best movie/tv...
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Nov 11, 20225 min read
Favorites Part 1: Music
For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my favorite works of art. These are not necessarily my answers to "What is the best movie/tv...
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Nov 4, 20225 min read
Lauren Bursting through the Shadows
From age 13 to 17, I was a church musician and I often miss it. It's not every adult choir director who would let a teenager play in his...
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Oct 14, 20225 min read
My Boy Gabriel
A few weeks ago now, I attended Divine Liturgy at an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral in Birmingham. There was about an hour and a half of...
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Sep 23, 20227 min read
How I Learned to Stop Being Pretentious and Love Cats
I tried to understand cats for years. The animals, I mean. I’m such an animal lover now that most people would be horrified to know I was...
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