Eleonore was a smart lady. The mother of my cousin’s husband, she was funny, disarming, and seemingly interested in everything. She grabbed your attention from the moment you entered her house to the moment you left. Unlike her husband, John, who was mild mannered and soft spoken, she was loud and larger than life. Steve […]
Teaching
Off to the Mountain!
I‘m off to the New England Young Writers’ Conference today, and I’m pretty excited about it! The last time I was at Breadloaf was three years ago, and the experience was just awesome, so I’m hoping this go around will surpass the last one. I have a student going this year, which is very […]
Scary Stories
The wind is blowing, the tree limbs are bare, and the moon is casting pale, silvery shadows across the back yard. Wolves howl down the street, vampires flap around the deck, and ghosts haunt the dark recesses of my darkened house. I’m feeling in a Halloween mood, and that means it’s my time to look […]
Old Friends Publishing Books
It was a pleasant surprise to learn earlier this year that my former department chair at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons, Dr.Paul O’Brien, was publishing a memoir after retiring from his forty-seven year teaching career. Paul, pictured to the left at a book signing at ND-BG last night, was one of my earliest mentors, and a true […]
Explanatory Notes
So I feel I need to clarify the last post. It was titled “Happy 2016 (Do Unto Others Edition).” In that post I felt that I did a pretty good job of describing the Happy 2016 part, but failed to fully articulate the “Do Unto Others” part. It’s not really a long thought, but I […]
David Foster Wallace on Writerly Pretentiousness
Ok, so I’m struggling with Infinite Jest right now. I love it, I hate it, I struggle with its weight. But more than anything, I’m blown away by David Foster Wallace’s sheer brilliance and hutzpah. He’s funny, biting, thought-provoking, anger-inducing, and one hell of a writer. Here’s a quote that I read from him regarding […]