INTERVIEWING ONE’S CULTURAL HEROES IS one of the greatest thrills of a career in journalism — even of amateur journalism. Such was the position in which I found myself while working for Obscure Research Labs in the early-to-mid-1990s. It gave…
Tag: writers
A breed apart from ordinary humans, and responsible for much of their culture. Some would call them the salvation of humanity; others wouldn’t call them a cab.
“It’s Just That…”
THERE’S A THING — WELL, LET’S call it a verbal placeholder-prefix — used by writers of audiovisual entertainments when they want a character to segue away from or into an awkward conversation. My friends, meet: “It’s just that…” You’ve heard…
Words To Bring Back: “Reverie”
– Definition: n. Abstracted musing; dreaming. – Used in a sentence: Since late 2016, my reveries have been somewhat disturbed. – Why: Although it comes from an Old French word meaning “dream,” it also reminds one of “revere” or “reverent.”…
Let Us Sit Upon the Ground and Sing Glad Songs to the Memory of Groovy English Teachers
WHEN MRS. BOISVERT TOLD ME in ninth-grade English class that I had the soul of a poet, I grimaced. “I want to be a scientist,” I said. She had no answer to that. But she had answers to lots of…
Larry Niven Calls This “The Funniest Prayer in Literature”
TUCKED INTO MY INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH siddur (prayerbook) is the following supplication. It’s there to keep me riding the trail of Faith without falling into the trap of thinking I know everything — or, really, anything — about that-which-some-people-call-God. Ladies, gentlemen, friends,…
Words to Bring Back: “Pellucid”
– Definition: adj. Permitting to a certain extent the passage of light. – Used in a sentence: O, for a more perfectly pellucid presidency*! – Why: I’m in favor of this one strictly for the sound of it; the feeling…
Why I Love: Robert Anton Wilson
IT’S THE WAY HE BLOWS my mind. It’s the way he mixes conviction with doubt. It’s his searingly funny prose. It’s his search for Ultimate Relativity. It’s that he taught me some important Latin phrases, like “Cui bono?” and “Non…
Words to Bring Back: “Concatenation”
– Definition: n. The act of linking together. – Used in a sentence: One positive effect of the 2016 election was the concatenation of disparate progressives, some actually lucid. – Why: Who could argue with a pentasyllabic synonym for “gathering?”
Words to Bring Back: “Adduce”
– Definition: v.t. To present for proof or consideration, as an example; cite; allege. – Used in a sentence: Rod Serling could have saved himself a couple of seconds per episode if he had only prefaced his Twilight Zone introductions…
First Graf(s): The Fellowship of the Ring
IF YOU HAVE ONLY SEEN the movie version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you are missing out on an extraordinary literary work. Granted, it takes a while to get into — a criticism also (and often) leveled against…
Words to Bring Back: “Chary”
– Definition: adj. cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something. – Used in a sentence: Due to long experience, my cat is no longer chary of taking his arthritis medicine. – Why: I suppose you could always use the synonymic…
Words To Bring Back: “Redolent”
– Definition: adj. 1. strongly reminiscent or suggestive of 2. fragrant or sweet-smelling – Used in a sentence: This halvah is redolent of faded rose-petals. – Why: One can never have too many adjectives for describing the senses.