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What I know about the trees in my backyard: a survey
Disclaimer: I am not going to look anything up or fact-check any claims I may make about plant biology in this post. My intention is to draw a boundary between what I think that I know and what I know that I don’t know. Please do not rely upon my plant lore as evidence to… Continue reading
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A Midsummer’s Day and Night Playlist
When does summer truly begin? The astronomical among us define the summer season in the northern hemisphere as beginning with the June solstice, the day with the longest span of daylight each year. However, the solstice is historically referred to in English as Midsummer’s Day, suggesting that by June 20th or so, historical people considered… Continue reading
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Let’s Appreciate the Birds and the Cherries
I’ve been a little neglectful of this blog space for a couple of weeks, and I’m sorry. Not on account of the sheer volume of my disappointed readership, but because putting out a little somethin’ somethin’ every week means something to me. It keeps me thinking and contributes to my sense of weekly rhythm. But… Continue reading
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Literary Retreat
A couple of weeks ago, I talked to Ariele about making a fairly significant alteration in our home decor. For too long, I said, we have kept the majority of our books locked away in our bedroom, where hardly anybody sees them. The public areas of our house, where our guests are entertained and our… Continue reading
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Opera Report: May 2026
Contextual note: Every three months my wife Ariele and I host an opera night for our friends at our house and via Discord, and while she does all the hard work of streaming and of updating the website where people vote for the shows, I contribute with an informal newsletter, sharing some history and other… Continue reading
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Every Conspiracy Theory Is Still Bad And You Should Think With Your Goddamned Brain
It perpetually amazes me, that we have built a nearly universal social apparatus specifically to explain to children how the world works, and yet so many people don’t really understand anything that their paychecks do not absolutely depend upon their grasping. I could possibly live with this state of affairs if these people did not… Continue reading
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Long Division: A Shaggy Dog Story
I am by no means a mathematical expert, but in the course of my job I am often steeped in the concepts and techniques that I was once instructed in, many moons ago. At least, the concepts are the same: many of the techniques seem to have been altered or, in some cases, abandoned. I… Continue reading
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The State of the Novel
Depending on what is meant by “write,” I only wrote The Ghost of Canard University once. But in the course of revising it, both on my own and with my editor, I have probably read it through two or three times. There are certain parts of it that I have read at least a dozen… Continue reading
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A Dream in the Vegetable Garden
The garden made a holy resolution,raising from the soil, lithe and green,a form refined by vicious evolution—grasping at the trellis like a bean,adorned with fragile blossoms in the morninglight, a delicate chemise of white,and bearing twilit fruit for night’s aborningstars, the touch of Venus brushing Mars—and have the jays been feeding from the cherries,do they… Continue reading
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A little hope in small places
I had the fine experience last week of joining some of the 11th grade students I tutor on a little field trip around the school’s campus. I could have done with weather a little warmer, but it was still a great day to stretch the legs and take in some spring air with our education.… Continue reading
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Ink Tea Stone Leaf 