Some of you may know that my title comes from the 1976 film Network. The movie exposes the media’s failure to report how Americans really feel during times of war and upheaval and what they […]
Opinion & Democracy
Really? No shortcut?
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” […]
Could It Be Writer’s Block?
Hypergraphia is the overwhelming urge to write. According to neurosurgeon Alice Flaherty, author of The Midnight Disease, this urge is triggered by changes in brainwave activity in the temporal lobe. Writers such as Dostoevsky and Lewis Carroll […]
Plumbing Further
My post last week, “Plumbing the Issues,” has raised what I think is a very welcome discussion because it is an important one. Two readers commented. The first discussed my remarks about people who I […]
Word v. Intent
It was only last Spring that Senator Obama enlightened us about the characteristics of Pennsylvanians, saying, “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the […]
Plumbing the Issues
My interview for this week fell through so I thought I would just touch on a few issues that have recently been making my hairline recede even more than it already had before this election […]
Rape Kits, Pitbulls, and Libel; Just Another Normal Day With John Reed
Last week 12th Street was considering its public stance. We did an interview with an author who is no stranger to controversy. John Reed, author of Snowball’s Chance and organizer of next year’s 9/11 Toga […]
Will You Shut Up And Listen To Me?
Perhaps you saw the clip of the angry old man addressing John McCain at a Republican rally in Wisconsin this week. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ykBr3SO6sg) “I’m mad!” he growled into the microphone, posturing with one hand firmly on […]
I Can See Russia from Alaska (When I Look in Your Eyes)
A song and video close reading of the Republican vice-presidential candidate’s comments to the press. (Performance by Matthew Brookshire. Song by M. Brookshire and L. Jaramillo)