Category: creativity
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The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot
In keeping with the annual tradition of reading the best Christmas stories for adults (as well as the best Christmas stories for kids and the best Christmas poems), here is The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot: As you’ll hear in the recording, I was clued into The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot by Professor…
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Funeral Eulogy for My Grandpa Deno Bubba
This year I had planned on staying in NYC the whole holiday season, but my grandfather passed away very, very suddenly on Saturday morning, so we grabbed an emergency flight back to Illinois, rolled into town for the visitation on Monday night and I performed the funeral eulogy and graveside services on Tuesday. Tara recorded the…
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The Second Christmas by F.K. Foraandh
In keeping with reading The Best Christmas Stories, here is The Second Christmas by F.K. Foraandh. It’s a short one, but it’s a really interesting philosophical and theological meditation. It’s a fictional piece about what may or may not have gone through the minds of the holy family as, during the second Christmas, they started to deal…
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Letters to a Young Poet …via Email
The following letters to a young poet grew out of emails sent to a poet. He had recently sent me a three-stanza poem asking for critique. I also, by the end, quote from Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet: ••• [Young Poet,] There are some really, really good lines in here and obviously the subject matter is hard…
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This Jodi Picoult Book VS. Writing Rules, Revised
Thanks to you guys, my new book is dominating that Jodi Picoult book: Of course, it probably won’t stay above the Jodi Picoult book and Pierce Brown’s work for long. Maybe it has disappeared into the void already. Regardless, it’s always nice to know you guys have my back. Us verses the literary world, guys. Actually,…
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pigeons
“The pigeon,” said Archimedes, “is a kind of Quaker. She dresses in grey. A dutiful child, a constant lover, and a wise parent, she knows, like all philosophers, that the hand of every man is against her. She has learned throughout the centuries to specialize in escape. No pigeon has ever committed an act of…
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Gloria in Profundis by G.K. Chesterton
In keeping with our annual tradition — Christmas readings of the best Christmas stories — here’s a poem by G.K. Chesterton entitled Gloria in Profundis. It’s a poem about how the fall of God is greater than the fall of man: If you’d like to hear more of the best Christmas stories, click here. cover…
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A Christmas Carol Stave 3 : The Second of Three Spirits by Charles Dickens
Keeping my tradition of Christmas readings of the best Christmas stories, here is A Christmas Carol Stave 3 : the second of Three Spirits by Charles Dickens. This section focuses on the ghost of Christmas present: If you’d like to see more of the best Christmas stories, go here. Stave One Stave Two
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Kubo and the Two Strings Analysis
Thanks to Micah Foreman for lending me his copy of Kubo and the Two Strings. I first heard about this film from Patrick Rothfuss back in May. Obviously after Coraline, I’ve been a big fan of Laika and I’m looking forward to their Wildwood adaptation, though I doubt it’ll come out quickly. In any case,…
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Journalists: We Seldom Know WHY Something is the Case
It drives me insane when an author titles an article Why something is the case when they really mean “How” something came to be or “What” we’ve decided to call it. labels + instructions ≠ explanations To expound: labeling a thing for your readers or offering them DIY instructions for making or using said…
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Six to Eight Black Men by David Sedaris
In keeping with our tradition here of the Best Christmas Stories, I’m reading Six to Eight Black Men by David Sedaris. I have Andy Nash to thank for showing me this one. It’s a story about how the Dutch dress up in blackface to accompany Santa Claus — and why we too might have such offensive and…
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Best Christmas Stories : Annual Christmas Readings
Every year, I add some more of the best Christmas stories to my backlog of Christmas readings. This year, I’m a little more organized: I’ve streamlined my recording equipment (by which I mean my iPhone uploads a whole heck of a lot faster than that thing which plugged into my old iPod nano as well…