I remember when my mama used to read to me every night. I looked forward to sitting back on my bed, her in a chair by my side, reading me whatever I wanted, every night. I learned a lot of words that way and could read before I went to kindergarten. That’s not a brag…
Feeding the Civil Rights Movement
We read lots of stories about the Civil Rights Movement, but I always enjoy those lesser known stories that emerge. I usually teach the nonfiction piece “Tell Them About the Dream, Martin!” in my English 111 classes. It is one of the backstories from the day of the famous “I Have a Dream Speech.” That…
I always loved Spy v. Spy, but never knew the story
I always enjoyed reading my brother’s Mad Magazine issues, but without a doubt my favorite feature was Spy v. Spy. When my school had bookfairs, or if on a grocery trip I could convince my mom to lay about the $1.25, I’d use it to buy the little paperbacks filled with the “silent” scripts. I…
Public Domain Day to “liberate” several works
Several famous works will come into the public domain in 2019 — maybe the most famous among them is Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I’m not sure why anyone thinks it is a good idea to open someone’s work and allow a free-for-all, but I guess I’ve always been a stickler…
Fountain pens and famous writers
By Michael K. Brantley A good friend introduced me to fountain pens about two years ago. A new friend I met shortly afterwards told me, “A writer needs to know and use fountain pens.” I laughed at first, but I was soon hooked. It is a nice blend of a practical, analog item and a…
In with the new, out with the old … unfortunately
Hey folks — I appreciate you checking in and following my page. Recently, I switched website hosts (for a number of reasons), and while it seemed the transition went smoothly, there were problems after about a week and all the old content got wiped. I’m going to try to restore some, but I have to…