Just recently I listened to Neil Diamond's Taproot Manuscript, an album that meant a great deal to me in 1970, the year of its release. I was 15. I think this is my first listen in fifty years. It was a wild ride, by turns utter cringe (as we say today) and some of the most beautiful pop music I've ever heard. Which was kind of the way things went ( Read more... )

Back around the beginning of December I got a laugh when Tumblr user natalieironside posted the following:

"I feel like quarantine had de-acclimated me to human society and if this ever ends I'm gonna need to go into some kind of wildlife rehabilitation program but for people or I'm gonna start scuttling through the grocery store like a weasel or ( Read more... )

At some point last December or January, there was an evening when my brother Rob decided to try to use the seldom-used fireplace in his living room. This was when my little nephew, Nick, was really into the Camp Half-Blood series of kids' novels and therefore into the Greek Gods. While the fire was getting going, the little guy put something in, ( Read more... )