I’m thankful for many things like the wonderful words of Kurt Vonnegut and about a billion other things that make me laugh, sing, cry and sigh. Far too many to list, though today while I made my chocolate chip cheesecake, I watched this: I’m always thankful for the Marx Brothers. My column today also features…
Category: holidays
Wombat Day
I did not start this particular celebration, but you know I’m willing to lend a hand for a good cause. So join the dance for Wombat Day. Wombat cake below made by the Wombies. How to celebrate: Eat chocolate, think marsupial thoughts, put something in a pouch. Smile. Hug a wombat.
BitchBuzz: Hate Valentine’s Day? Blame Chaucer!
My latest column for BitchBuzz dips into the medieval history of Valentine’s Day celebrations. I know some people think they’re a bit excessive, but even in the Middle Ages there were a lot of fairly ridiculous beliefs about the nature of love: Hallmark and Cadbury might seem to have a lock on the holiday now,…
Ring Ring Goes the Bell
Classes begin tomorrow; as usual, I face that fact with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Just like the students, I prefer to be on holiday. Every new semester makes me wonder if I know what I’m doing. Birthday boy Robert (Happy Birthday, again!) says the same thing he always says, “Make them stand on…
Philadelphia and NYC
I am off to Philadelphia today to make a flying visit to the always stressful conference for the Modern Language Association. Fortunately, this is probably the last time I’ll have to go to the conference (at least for the foreseeable future) and I am neither interviewing candidates nor interviewing for jobs, so my personal stress…
Happy Solstice!
After the darkest night, the sun begins its return. It’s the start of winter but the beginning of the return of the light. Enjoy the season, a good time for contemplation. I hope to do a little more of that — not to mention writing — now that I’m ready to turn in grades. There’s…
Krampus Eve
Have you been good? Or will the Krampus whack you with his sticks — or put you in chains and take you off in his basket?
BitchBuzz: Movies without Women
My latest column for BitchBuzz is on a pet peeve I have: Movies without Women (or the dreaded Movie with One Woman). It’s an irritating popular trend in the last few decades that seems to have arisen from the focus-group approach to movie making (AKA micromanaging per the unconsidered comments of a bunch of random…