Posts Categorized: essays

Pumpkin, Schmumpkin…

It is late September here in North Texas, (and, I assume, in other places too), and the temperature has finally begun to cool down from the inferno-like heat of summer.  Even before the welcome arrival of autumnal air, you could tell that a change in season was imminent simply by entering a coffee shop or grocery store.  Wherever you look, you’re bombarded by the sight and smells of pumpkins: big, orange ones, weirdly shaped white ones, itty-bitty cute ones of varying hues, as well as suggestively… Read more »

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Art for Beginners

Anyone who has witnessed the carnage that results from any “crafty” project that I have attempted, will testify that I am a horrible artist.  I took me 6 years to finally figure out how to create the Pilgrim bonnet that my girls wore at their pre-K’s annual Thanksgiving Feast! My drawings are on the sub-remedial level (stickmen!), and my painting is dauby at best. I can really only be trusted with coloring books and Lego sets.  Despite this aesthetic handicap – and as a distraction… Read more »

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The Joy of Obscenity

“When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.” Mark Twain. One of the more interesting results of the recent “Brexit” referendum was the outpouring of savage yet creative insults hurled by Twitter users towards Donald Trump. It was encouraging to see such a dazzling display of wordplay and literary entrepreneurism.  As a British expat, it was heartening to see that the ancient Anglo-Saxon talent for obscenity is far from a figment of our distant medieval past. Much to my (American) husband’s chagrin,… Read more »

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Bread and Circuses

I think we can all agree that the current political climate has become surreal to the point of absurd.  While the Democratic party is still squabbling over who will ultimately become their nominee, the Republican party has essentially surrendered whatever dignity they had to the bombastic bluster of Donald J Trump – a figure so cartoonish that his very existence seems like a punch line to an off-color joke. How did we get here?? Of late, I have read several op-ed pieces comparing our current political… Read more »

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Apocalypse, Soon?

“…And, lo, it came to pass that during the Sixteenth year of the Second Millennium, there arose in the West a sulfurous presence that threatened to destroy all who came before it.  So noxious were its fumes and emissions that it felled all competition in its lust for power.  The people of the land quaked in terror of the darkening sky and searched wildly for one who could save them from the eye-meltingly orange demon that swore to destroy all they… Read more »

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