When I heard the first breaking news about Scott Brown, I thought, “This will be a fascinating story for Tim and the boys of The Studio, survivors of sexual abuse. It certainly shows that a man can have a miserable sexually-confused childhood and still succeed. Good for him.” Then I began listening to the reaction of the media. So far I note these reactions: 1. ...

Book as dance — NOT an object but a time-art.  This is a concept I’ve been pursuing for a while.  Bless Dave Lull, “the cross-pollinating librarian,” for sending me this quote this morning, just as I was about to embark on the rough seas of explanation. (I don’t have anything against book critics per se — just the idea that I have to agree with them. ...

Am I my brother’s keeper?  Am I my brother’s lover?  Am I my brother’s teacher?  Am I my brother’s guardian?  And what is he to me — what is “brother”? There are only a few key religious questions in the Old Testament, some more pressing than others, some more intense in certain situations.  What if Abraham had taken two sons up the mountain and God...

Sometimes I pick out a topic and fiddle with it for days and other times, the topic more or less spears me with a frog gigger and there I am.  From the photo you can guess what got me this time.  (There’s usually a little cluster of Japanese tourists within trident range.  You can tell they’re Japanese by the cameras.) According to NPR (wouldn’t you know?),...

Many people in today’s world survive the horrors by simply not knowing about them.  Even if they know about them, they turn their heads away.  It’s too terrifying and they don’t know what to do about it anyway.  If you are one of those people, don’t read this blog and, specifically, don’t read this post. Tim Barrus and I are people who see trouble and head...