Clik here to view.
Throwback Thursday: My career as a collegiate journalist
My first-ever published newspaper articles! Those who ask me about the potential value of extracurricular activities for college students risk being on the receiving end of a verbal serenade about The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why there will never be another Great Pumpkin
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” is one of the most popular television specials ever made, premiering in 1966 and shown every year around Halloween time. Featuring the beloved “Peanuts”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
As the air chills and the days grow short, the semester chugs along
Boston Common, October 2015 As I made tracks to my weekly singing class on Tuesday evening at around 6 p.m., both the chilly air and dusk were part of my brisk walk. I did stop to snap the photo above;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Temporary escapism: NYC teens are discovering “Friends”
New York Times writer Ginia Bellafante reports that New York City teens have discovered the popular 1990s sitcom “Friends.” A big reason for its draw is its portrayal of the relatively carefree lives...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fighting Irish schmaltz: “Rudy” and “Knute Rockne All American”
When it comes to college football fandom, I’m not naturally rooted. My undergraduate alma mater, Valparaiso University, has a terrific mid-major basketball program, but for decades its football team...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Diaries & journals as time travel devices
As both a history buff and a wannabe time traveler, I find that historically significant journals and diaries can be a wonderful way of jumping into the past. In the hands of gifted chroniclers, they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The finer things: Books, movies, coffee
As my friends will readily acknowledge, my spending priorities do not extend to matters of wardrobe, home and office design, and other things domestic. But in the Kingdom of Geekdom that is my world,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Spotlight” is superb movie making
Based on the strong reviews it’s getting, I expected to like “Spotlight,” the new movie about the Boston Globe‘s investigation of the priest sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. But I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stephen King and the art of the slow read
Among the writers whose books merit the appellation “page turner,” Stephen King ranks high on the short list. After all, millions of loyal readers have been enjoying his books for decades now. He...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The hazards of study abroad
Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 1981 (photo: DY) The terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday tragically reminded us that when students go abroad, they are not provided with a protective bubble. Among...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On bucket lists, f***it lists, and the happily mundane
The title of the 2007 movie “The Bucket List” introduced a new phrase into our popular culture, referring to the making of wish lists, written down or simply in our heads, of must-do trips and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thirty-five years ago: “Nightline,” Ted Koppel, and the Iranian hostage crisis
(Screenshot from abcnews.go.com) In November 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took over 60 American as hostages, triggering an event that would stretch on for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nostalgia for a New York experienced and occasionally imagined
Awaiting the okay to board, South Station, Boston (Photo: DY) My annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to New York included a traditional feast with family and friends and a lot of walking around to absorb...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Food marketing terms that make our mouths water
Marketing experts, I confess: If you advertise any food product using the word “homestyle,” I am roughly 150 percent more likely to buy it. I don’t care if we’re talking about homestyle auto parts...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Big Apple ghosts
Flatiron Building, 23rd Street, Manhattan (photo: DY) Of all the places I have lived for long stretches of time — Northwest Indiana, New York City, and Boston — the Big Apple has made the deepest,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What are your TV series binge-viewing pleasures?
In the era of DVDs, DVR devices, and streaming services, binge-viewing (or binge-watching) is a guilty and comparatively affordable pleasure. The term is usually applied to marathon viewings of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Imagining the Ye Olde English coffee houses
In 1750, the first coffee house in England opened in Oxford, and it wouldn’t take long for the concept to take hold across the country. According to Aytoun Ellis’s The Penny Universities: A History of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Adding a Little Free Library to my favorite store in the ‘hood
LittleFreeLibrary.org is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting, well, Little Free Libraries, tiny, handcrafted wooden boxes that invite anyone to take a book or leave a book. From their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hawaii calls: My first bout of nostalgia
Given my frequent bouts of nostalgia, I thought I’d delve way back into my boyhood to trace how this has been a natural state of affairs for me. Indeed, while we often associate nostalgia with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Welcomed year-end perspectives from across the pond
Visits to England over the years have given me a great appreciation for two venerable news periodicals published there, The Economist and The Guardian. A venerable staple in England, The Economist,...
View Article