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On Bark

Tree bark is one of those things difficult to describe without metaphor. It’s also one of those things people can recognize without being able to describe (giving rise to numerous not particularly helpful youtube videos, and demonstrating, by the way, that we can think, or at least categorize, outside of language). Whereas leaves can beContinue reading “On Bark”

Garlic Mustard: it’s everywhere, why not eat it?

Eating Garlic Mustard is often urged as a way of fighting an invasive plant, but there’s another reason it’s worth a try: history. Ever come across those startling, seemingly inexplicable details when reading something older than the 20th century, such as that people used to sleep in two four hour shifts, or put eggs inContinue reading “Garlic Mustard: it’s everywhere, why not eat it?”

Nature the Bizarre

Today I’m going to show you some of the stranger things I’ve found hiking. Starting below, with some kind of coral fungus I haven’t managed to quite identify. I’ve seen this several times now, usually while poking around for signs of morels. The fungus above has become lichenized, which results in the green tint. AllContinue reading “Nature the Bizarre”

Three Spring Wildflowers

My first Indiana Spring has come and given me a chance to learn some new wildflowers. Above you see one of my favorites, cleft phlox. Below we’ll talk about three more! First up, the yellow trout lily. Called a “trout” lily because its leaves are mottled, or perhaps “dappled,” in a vaguely trout-like way. YellowContinue reading “Three Spring Wildflowers”

The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison: A reader’s thoughts

I am finding The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison frustrating. Less the letters themselves, than the context in which they are presented. It feels to me like John F Callahan, Ellison’s literary executor, is, or is at least attempting to be, the owner of a monopoly on all things Ralph Ellison, which in a senseContinue reading “The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison: A reader’s thoughts”

Early Spring Photos: Indiana

And now for an embarrassing story…the “corn flake mushroom,” as I called it in my head, turns out to be, after months of frustrating research (well, really just hours over the course of a couple months) the extremely common… Crowded Parchment Fungus, considered by mushroomexpert.com to be “the most common, ubiquitous, ever-present, lost-all-luster fungus amongContinue reading “Early Spring Photos: Indiana”

“Murder Most Foul” and the Mean World Syndrome

A little while ago I watched a great documentary about the work of a professor at UPenn on the effect of TV violence. He found that TV violence did not make people more violent themselves, but that it led them to believe the world around them was more violent than it really was. Seeing thousandsContinue reading ““Murder Most Foul” and the Mean World Syndrome”

Will there be blood?

There Will be Blood is a piece of myth-making about America and about masculinity. The myth it tells about America is that it is the product of fanatical individuality, the fierce will of the strongest, that the problems with our society stem not from something systemic or collective, but from the tragic flaws of greatContinue reading “Will there be blood?”

War with the Newts

I have just finished reading Válka s mloky (War with the Newts) to keep up my Czech. Čapek wrote the novel in four months, and it took me almost that long to read it. As reading practice for a non-native speaker, it is perfect because a lot of different vocabulary comes up: economic, historical, political,Continue reading “War with the Newts”

Notes on “Civil War Monuments and the Militarization of America”

Since the beauty of this book lies in the specifics, rather than try to somehow present a coherent summary in the form of an essay, I am simply giving as bullet points facts that struck me so far. Americans initially thought of themselves as peaceable in contrast to Imperial Britain with it’s global empire andContinue reading “Notes on “Civil War Monuments and the Militarization of America””