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Monthly Archives: December 2023
Short rounds: The Office, sword-making, and love in the time of yellow fever
The Office BFFs, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Foes on the show, but IRL best friends Jenna and Angela here deliver a very personal memoir of not just the show, but of their friendship over the years – forged … Continue reading
Posted in General, Reviews
Tagged 2000s, architecture, arts-entertainment, audiobook, Colonial America, historical fiction, memoir, philosophy
2 Comments
Visiting with Huey on the Mississippi
Good morning from the Mississippi river. For the last few days I’ve been in Natchez, enjoying the sights of a rare southern town that has not lost its soul to Progress: its city streets are marked by people and shops, not … Continue reading
2023 in Other Media: Music
2020 Musical Wrapup | 2022 in Other Media: Music) I’m going to go ahead and post this because I don’t think another musician will Rock My World in the next 15 days. It could always happen, but I’ll edit if … Continue reading
America’s first female astronauts
When NASA was formed and began looking for astronauts, they settled on test pilots as the initial base: such men were already known quantities, with proven physical and intellectual gifts that could be applied to the pioneering work of Mercury and beyond. Although … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged 1970s, 1980s, history, human space flight, quotations, women
4 Comments
God Rest Ye Merry, Soldiers
The Christmas of 1862 approached far differently than the year proceeding. Although the southern war for independence had begun in April of ’61, the war was then still seen by many as a lark, an adventure – and soldiers on both … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged American Civil War, American South, history, seasonal, Tennessee
3 Comments
The War of 1812
The war of 1812 has had a particular fascination for me in recent years, in part because of the complexity of the conflict: it began as an offshoot of the Napoleonic Wars, as Britain’s attempts to control the azure main … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged America, Britain, Early American Republic, history, Native America, naval, War of 1812
5 Comments
TW on the Road: saying hello to Santa at a retirement community for Civil War veterans
In years past I’d heard of a Confederate Memorial Park somewhere in Marbury, but assumed it was something like we have in Selma: a place where the dead were buried and a placard or statue put up. After the tornado … Continue reading
A Tudor Christmas
Alison Weir’s A Tudor Christmas is a short social history of how Christmas was celebrated in the days of Henry VIII and his daughters. (And, ever so briefly, his son.) After some background information on the different cultural traditions that … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Alison Weir, Britain, history, Medieval, seasonal, social history, the play is the thing, Tudor England
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Could it be luck? Only heaven knows — seems we’ve found ourselves under the mistletoe
Allison Young and the Bygones are appearing in my music end-year wrapup, but they did an original sound that’s right out of the 1940s so I wanted to share it for those who might appreciate it. Stumbled on Allison in … Continue reading
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