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Posts published in “Essays”

The National Pasttime

June 24th brings us to one of the littlest known stories about major league baseball. It began in Ipswich, County Suffolk, England in 1854, on…

Flycatchers

The Pacific-slope Flycatchers who entrusted a corner of this ranch house for their nest have fledged their baby Flycatchers and moved on, leaving behind a…

Why Reggae?

What's your favorite type of music? Chances are it's from the time you were young, probably even a teenager. This is likely due not just…

The Hide Ride

When my daughter was getting a divorce a while ago I sent my grandson a pup tent and told him to go sleep in the…

The Stony Lonesome: Kids Today

I'm sitting here looking at the February 11 issue of the AVA and wondering what I should make of the fact of my work being…

Prom Pop & The Rites Of Adolescence

As the older of my two daughters went off to her senior prom last weekend, I couldn’t help but think back to a trip to…

Just Old

A friend suggested that the reason I find contemporary American movies and books and plays and music to be largely junk is that I am just old.

Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, David Crosby, and many other older musicians aver that contemporary popular music today is inferior to the popular music of their day, but that’s just because those guys are old.

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