This week, for our 50th episode, we talk memoirs, the art scene of the 1970s, the late Robert Mapplethorpe, and the incomparable Patti Smith. We talked Just Kids by Patti Smith. “WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “Reading rocker Smith’s account of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, it’s hard not Read more…
This week we deal with an airborne plague that kills everyone to get our mind off of current events. We read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Back of the book from Vintage: “NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST • Set in the eerie days Read more…
As last week fades into memory, the pictures of Presidential mug shots are the news item and meme of the day. The dour expression of Trump is representative of a process he calls unprecedented, but as I tell my students, never trust a politician to tell you history. In fact, Read more…
This week we get alllll spooky and cinematic! We talk Zombie apocalypse with World War Z by Max Brooks (also, this one has an incredible audiobook)! Thanks for reading along with us! Our next book will be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, because we just can’t get optimistic. Host: Nic Co-host: Mike Read more…
We start this season in earnest with a classic Cold War espionage thriller, but I can’t remember which one. We read The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. From the Bantam summary: “His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic Read more…
On the ongoing text chain of American News and Political Science, my friend (the government teacher at the school I teach), forwarded me an article from Bloomberg via Yahoo News. The thrust of the article was that roughly half of Americans are open to the idea of a third-party presidential Read more…
Hey readers! This summer has been a mess and I promise we will soon return with a regular episode. In the meantime, here is a short story, soon to be published, by panelist Mike Carroll. A Wrong Cruelly Done. Enjoy, Nic
For years, Diet Coke has been derided. Rumors of Gene Siskel, of the famed Siskel and Ebert, had developed a brain tumor from consuming Diet Coke. This was not out of the blue, in 1996, the National Institutes of Health had insinuated the same thing. Though Atlanta drink company Coca-Cola Read more…
“The Confederate flag made it deeper into Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, than it did during the Civil War,” a professor said of the siege at the Capitol.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/politics/confederate-flag-capitol.html) “We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. Just sail around the world and stick a Read more…
Hello all! This is Dr. Nic Hoffmann speaking, or typing, rather. Over the past school year, this was a place to share the work students were doing. We were proud of that work. However, as the project continues, this will become a place where I, and occasionally Mike Burns and Read more…