Notes from the Ironbound

It's late January, the grimmest part of the year, a stretch that will last about a month. It's cold and dark. The weather tends to m...

As I continue along my life path of being an aging dad I have picked up various aging dad habits. I give over too much effort to yard work a...

This Charlie Brown special was how I first learned of Tolstoy When quarantine began in the middle of March, 2020, I decided to order a coupl...

Today was quite a day. In terms of my personal life, it was my first day teaching the kids at home. My wife is one of the tech coaches for h...

World War I was the event that first got me interested in history. I have maintained that interest, an interest so pure an abiding that I...

Soon after the election I decided to spend more time reading things from the past that could give me insight into our current situation. One...

My first brush with Dickens did not impress me.  We read A Tale of Two Cities in my tenth grade English class, and I came away turned of...

Awhile back I was browsing a used bookstore, where I happened to see that it had a separate section dubbed "Chick Lit." I've...

Back when I still worked in academia, I would relieve the tension and absurdity of my life by curling up with a good academic novel, prefe...