Blog
A Young Adult/Fantasy Novel Class I Will be Teaching Next Year
Myth, Magic, and Folklore in Literature~ Some believe that simply because books portray magic or because they line certain shelves of libraries and bookshops, they must cease to have relevance for those who have passed a certain age. That is a misconception. “Children’s” and “Young Adult” novels reveal characters of great depth and memorable complexity.... »
Concert to Hail Spring Break
Below is the text of my introduction to a concert I gave at Bishop’s March 4, 2013. – Speaking begins 8:00, and playing begins 10:50. Concert ends at 23:12: March 4th Concert – Initially, I had grand plans to attach some lofty explanation and extramusical set of ideas to what I was to play. But as we’ve discussed in... »
With you at the Helm,
On this Rough Sea, Where each man must be the Captain of his own ship, I promote you from First Mate, For surely you are much more. With you at the Helm, I know I need never be Rudderless, Gliding toward the Poles, That once did dwell apart, But have since so Fused together, In Defiance of Our Laws, And Accordance with a Principle, Some Cosmic... »
Here’s [to] Hopin’
The Bishop’s School recently celebrated a “Week of Hope” to grant students and staff a time to pause and take stock of the things that “matter” and make them (us) happy. I played three concerts to convey the message of hope as I see, hear, and define it, and I wrote this essay to... »
Words Fail us, but Maybe That’s not Such a bad Thing
You could say words ultimately fail us. They are an inaccurate art that could never fully encapsulate the truth of an idea, image, or situation. Their tragedy is that in their best incarnations, they are simply approximations. But I guess after everything’s done (if not necessarily “said-and-done”), it’s better to be left with an... »
A Toast for my Sister’s Wedding
Good evening, my name is Debbie, and I’m Margot’s sister. Of the 10,297 or so days I’ve known Marg—and I really should be careful with my math in deference to Joel—I don’t think more than one has passed during which she and I weren’t in touch in some way. That’s always felt like a priority,... »
Existential Crises Display Your Humanity
I have to say I believe that if you have not had some form of an Existential Crisis during your adult life or formative years, you are not Human. Whether you believe in God or Darwinian Evolution or some variant of both or neither, you will likely agree that what separate Us–human beings–from the... »
Are we not Prisms?
I used to think that who you are stayed the same no matter what happened to you–that the core of you, your essence, the stuff that gave you your identity, was immutable and that no matter what you experienced, you were as a circle around another circle on a tree ring, nothing greater. It... »
A Manifesto for Tonight–and not Just Tonight
I will let my imagination soar, rather than having it sink into an abyss of discontentment. I will no longer live in the past but will incorporate it lovingly into my present and its future. I release myself from stress and anxiety. I purge myself of hate, malice, and intolerance. I liberate myself from... »
On Reading, 1.
Perhaps I am a literary coward because I do not enjoy the works of those who describe the Human Condition in too graphic of terms, preferring, rather, the ones who may cloak it in shades of blue and innocence, fleeting wisdom, unshaded contours that are no less deep, occasional irony that sears with greater potency, who tip-toe around it as if it were sly and mercurial, a... »