The “War on Christmas”…Then and Now

    We hear a lot in this season about the “War on Christmas,” but today’s war is nothing like that of the 1600s. England Soon after the Puritan-controlled government executed King Charles I in 1649, they abolished Christmas observances in England. Puritans...

Imposter Syndrome in Art and Life

  There is a well-known story involving an audience member asking a poet who just read one of her poems, “Is that a real poem or did you just make that up?” This fall at the end of the poetry seminar that I took with Andrea Hollander, the subject of feeling like...

Books for LGBTQ+ History Month

  In observance of LGBTQ+ history month, I want to talk about some of the books that were instrumental in helping me understand the gay world of the 1920s as portrayed in Medicine for the Blues. I encourage anyone interested in gay history to check out some of...

Trump & McConnell vs. Durrenmatt’s Truths

  The Swiss writer Friedrich Durrenmatt (1921-1990) has created an intriguing and challenging body of work that is as relevant today as it was when he was coming of age during the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Two specific aspects in Durrenmatt’s work epitomize...