Today is a sad day. A man who has essentially been dead to the rest of the world for nearly fifty years has actually gone and died. For real this time. My introduction to J.D. Salinger, like I’m assuming most other people’s, came with the assignment of Catcher in the Rye in a high school English class. I was, at [...]

I’ll be back later with a more long winded eulogy for Salinger, but I just want to go on record as saying that the best writer I have ever and most likely will ever read is dead. I can not overstate the importance of Salinger’s work, particularly Franny & Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An [...]

I know I owe half a decade’s worth of highlights, and believe me, I’m doing my best to get to that (they’re all chosen, it’s the write-up that’s taking time). Anyway, R and I had a conversation after not talking for a year or so, and we started talking about what’s new, what we’re listening to, what we’re reading, etc. [...]

*note* This is the fourth in a ten part series examining the highlight from each year between 2000 – 2009. Some entries may be longer than others. I may also be forgetting things. 2003 — Bon Soir More than one person suggested that in preparation for my first transcontinental flight, it’d be a good idea to sleep through as much [...]

*note* This is the third in a ten part series examining the highlight from each year between 2000 – 2009. Some entries may be longer than others. I may also be forgetting things. 2002 — O’Brien’s Nocturne I am somebody who marks sections of life by the music I was listening to. I have always maintained a big music collection, [...]

*note* This is the second in a ten part series examining the highlight from each year between 2000 – 2009. Some entries may be longer than others. I may also be forgetting things. 2001 — The Future is Bleak By the time my college career drew to a close, I spent Tuesdays and Thursdays commuting to Milwaukee classrooms and the [...]

*note* This is the first in a ten part series examining the highlight from each year between 2000 – 2009. Some entries may be longer than others. I may also be forgetting things. 2000 — Welcome to Mayberry In the summer of 2000 I loaded a Toyota Camry with a suitcase, a twelve pack of Mountain Dew, and a dubbed [...]