Tag Archives: personal

Flavorcide

Posted on February 15, 2020 by

I’m impaled by a witticism that wants outing.  My dad died in an old folks’ home as he was foot-scooting himself to breakfast in his wheelchair one morning. Everyone foot-scooted, no one got pushed. It was promoted as therapeutic exercise.  … Continue reading →

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Waking the Dogs

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

It’s been a red-letter several days in my quiet life, and I’m afraid it has me sounding off more than I should here on topics that normally I would let lie with sleeping dogs. I have a fear of goading … Continue reading →

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“Shed Down By the River” Continued

Posted on July 23, 2018 by

Two other things that impressed me: (2) Among my peers at the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras in Barcelona, the “pandilla” was the organizing social unit — congenial, urbane, catholic, benign, excluding neither the ill-favored nor the studious nor the … Continue reading →

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Remembered

Posted on July 23, 2018 by

Arturo Rodríguez, Mexican immigrant, master mason, arch builder, craftsman, sweet tenor, husband, friend. Told one of the best jokes I know. Its punchline: … No le hagas caso a ese caballo, no sabe nada de mecánica. Copyright (c) 2018 James … Continue reading →

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Dear Mother… I’m continuing

Posted on July 21, 2018 by

“I’m continuing to read Jacques Barzun’s “Teacher in America,” written in the forties. He has a lot to say about what education really consists of (a lifelong endeavor), and I imagine a lot of his ideas would be sympathetic to … Continue reading →

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Shed Down by the River

Posted on July 18, 2018 by

From the street it’s nondescript: long and low, homely brickwork giving way to corrugated metal, no windows. Flat, pedestrian, a second-rate, seedy, industrial-looking structure on a humble side of town. Patio and doorways are on the opposite side facing inward … Continue reading →

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Dear Mother… Charles

Posted on July 17, 2018 by

Charles gave me a copy of his “translation” of Arthur Rimbaud’s “Le bateau ivre” (The Drunken Boat). I put “translation” in quotes because Charles readily admits that his version derives from other English versions of the poem, since he doesn’t … Continue reading →

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