Are you a fan of haunted hotel tales like The Shining, ranked by The Guardian newspaper as arguably the fifth “best horror film of all time”? The film is based on a […]
A Haunting Novel for This Halloween Season: Love Lets Us Down
This Month in Essential Trivia
Welcome to the inaugural column all about trivia! As a competitive team trivia player, I’m always on the lookout for knowledge I don’t possess. When I find a breadcrumb of an idea […]
The Pleasures and Perils of Online Publishing
I don’t know why it took so many years to appreciate the practice and enjoyment of reading and publishing in online literary journals. Lately, I’m really digging online journals, as a reader […]
Of Many Minds about Dogs
Dawn begins to break, and one is trying to sleep after the previous night’s festivities. The next-door neighbor lets out their dogs. The dogs begin to bark incessantly. It feels personal, and […]
Readin’, Writin’, and ‘Rithmetic: Back to the Basics and Books
When people call for public education to go “back to the basics,” it reminds me of “readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic,” essential knowledge for all time. Imagine a one-room, frontier schoolhouse, something out […]
Some Poems to Love
Too many people think all poems are hard to understand, require a working knowledge of Latin, and require a teacher who is determined to lead (force) you to an interpretation (THEIR interpretation) […]
Surviving the Winter Doldrums, One Movie at a Time
It’s been a long, cold, treacherous winter, folks. Between tons of snow burying half the country, and subzero temperatures freezing Lake Michigan’s waves, it got so cold down in Daytona Beach that […]
On Short Poems
First of all, I have to be honest: I have never written a good short poem. I won’t say I “can’t,” because you never know, but the skill it takes to say […]
How to Clean a Cauldron
I hate cleaning. No, that’s not accurate. It doesn’t occur to me to clean. There are so many other more entertaining things to do. Do I vacuum or read a book? The answer is […]
2025, Our Year of Greed and Elon Musk
What do award-winning singer Billie Eilish and established award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates have in common? Both are successful women in the twenty-first century, and both have used their platforms to criticize […]
