Towards the end of last year, I was browsing in a record store and ran across a new release of a Freddie King concert from 1968. Since I’m a fan, I took a closer look. The bulk of the album was record live at the Fillmore West in 1968. There are two bonus tracks, one from…
I have often said that there is no thing more worthy of a holiday than love. This, however, is not the dominant view. Most people seem to see Valentine’s Day as the ultimate Hallmark Holiday. People complain because they are single on Valentine’s Day or they complain because it creates obligations they don’t want. It…
I wrote a post the other day where I complained that the nature of academic racial language forces the conversations about race to be too self conscious. As an aside, I also mentioned that this same language is polarizing and alienating. Not that anyone asked, since no one ever leaves comments, but I thought I’d…
Today is February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, so it seems appropriate to say a little something about him. But, I don’t really have anything to say that hasn’t already been said a million times before. So, I’m going to take a different tack and use Lincoln’s presidency as a jumping off point for a more…
For starters, I don’t pay any attention to the Grammy Awards. I think the last time I watched was when Milli Vanilli beat out Living Colour for best new artist. The Grammys generally don’t bother with music I enjoy, so I don’t bother with them. This year there was apparently a bit of controversy when Beck won…
There are certain basic life skills everyone should have. It’s one of the major failures of our educational system that many people lack them. What’s worse is that most people are never offered the opportunity to learn these skills in school. This list is far from complete, but it’s a start. 1. Sewing – I’m…
Do you ever wonder how something becomes a Thing? I wonder about it all the time. How did knock, knock jokes become a Thing? Can you imagine the first person to tell a knock, knock joke? “I’m going to say, ‘Knock, knock,’ and you say, ‘Who’s there?’ OK?” “Why?” “You’ll see. Just do it.” “But…
A couple years ago, a student was working with me on a history paper. She was a regular and I had worked with her often. She always seemed smart and nice. This day she asked me, “What do you call me?” I hesitated and tried to glance at her folder. I figured I had called…
I saw the final installment of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. Apparently (according to the credits), it is based on a novel by JRR Tolkien called The Hobbit. I have read a book called The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien many times, but I’m struggling to find the connection. I can only conclude that Peter Jackson and…
The title of this piece is not accurate. Hannah Davis is the cover model for the 2015 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. But every single headline I saw lead with Derek Jeter, look at Yahoo!, CBS Detroit, and the Huffington Post. In other news, Pierre Curie’s wife won the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. Oh, and…
