When I was organizing my bookshelves a couple weeks ago, I gathered together all the books I own that are half-finished and unread, some still unopened with that “new book” fresh paper smell. I bought many of these books during their first week of release in a rush of excitement to support a friend or [...]
Author Archive
17 May
Reading, Writing, and Explaining
Some thoughts on poet Rita Dove’s response to the question: Are we striving toward a post-racial literature and art?
15 May
TBoH on Facebook
Just when I finally figured out how to create a Facebook Page for this blog, folks are up in arms, quitting the site and criticizing its privacy policies. I can’t say that I haven’t considered it myself. But I’ve decided to respond by adjusting my settings, removing tags and captions, and deleting unnecessary profile information. [...]
9 May
The Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need
While I was working on last week’s post about my financial woes, I had the pleasure of reading to my daughter, for the first time, Dr. Seuss’s book The Lorax. It was always one of my favorite books as a child and its message of conservation and love for all living things has stayed with [...]
29 Apr
Under Water
A mortgage is said to be under water when a homeowner owes more than the house is worth. Calamity struck Wall Street and the federal rescue was praised and derided as a bailout, a term that brings to mind steel buckets of sloshing flood waters being passed from hand to hand. Lately I have been [...]
23 Apr
Lost & Found: Go [Bleep] Yourself!
What would this nation do without Jon Stewart?!? The Daily Show has taken the recent controversy over South Park and its (attempted) depiction of the Prophet Muhammad and turned it into a profound commentary on religious and artistic expression. This segment is smart, hilarious, and delightfully reckless. Plus, the gospel choir at the end of [...]
21 Mar
Let’s Discuss! Bayou (Chapters 2-4)
To start off this open thread on pages 34-154 of Bayou, here are a few issues to consider: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the parallel world of “Dixie” and the way it imposes itself on the material world of the 1930s South. In this great review, Scott Cederlund describes Bayou as a “southern [...]
14 Mar
Prapañca Journal
I’m delighted to share the news about Prapañca, an online Buddhist journal edited by friend of the blog, Scott Mitchell from Buddha is My DJ. The purpose of this quarterly publication — whose name refers to the way we make sense of the world through the “play of words” — is to represent an inclusive [...]
13 Mar
Coming Soon: More “Bayou” Discussion
TBoH’s first discussion of Jeremy Love’s webcomic, Bayou, focused on the opening chapter. Thanks so much to all who responded! Next week, I’ll post a new open thread on Chapters 2-4 (pages 33-154), in which Lee begins her quest and the mysterious, parallel world of “Dixie” starts to take shape. We also get a glimpse [...]
27 Feb
Testing the Ice
February is coming to an end and I have failed to have the conversation that I had hoped to have with my daughter about racism and black American history. She’s heard poems by Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni, knows the lyrics to Leadbelly’s “Good Morning Blues” and we just read a story by Jackie Robinson’s [...]
19 Feb
Lost & Found: Snowy Day
Links, media, and random ideas that we recommend from the past week. WATCH THIS: The film, “Sins of the Mother,” based on Carleen Brice’s novel, Orange Mint and Honey, will air this Sunday, February 21, at 8 p.m. ET on the Lifetime Network. We are so proud of Carleen and can’t wait to see the [...]
