I will not live long enough to see any particular lump of coal become a diamond. But I have lived long enough to see a love song written by one of my contemporaries mischaracterized as “traditional”—the song being thereby attributed to that prolific genius of yore, Anonymous. Such attribution cuts the song loose […]
The images on picture postcards sent to and from soldiers on the First World War’s western front captured, in “real time,” the passions and prejudices (etc.) of the men who fought the war, and of the societies that sent them into the trenches. The postcards were rolled off the presses quickly, to serve needs of […]
Pictured is JudgmentsHere in the middle of a Speed Scrabble match against the family dog. Such contests previously were casual and occasional; but they have become more frequent, and more heated, since the emergence of the pandemic, and the issuance of shelter-in-place recommendations. Another sign of the times, to be sure. Although formal records have […]
Daddy found the boys in the upstairs part of McDonald’s. They had found seats at a little counter that faced a window, through which you could see people walking on Third Avenue. Nathan had taken one chair, and Lewis had taken another. They had put their backpacks on the chair between their chairs, to […]
Albert Einstein was of the view, famously, that “matter can neither be created nor destroyed.” The Professor surely was a first-rate physicist, and made many real contributions. He was unaware, however, of my historic work with broken appliances and children’s toys. The fact is, I can create two tricycles out of one tricycle. And I […]
