Professor Carol
It was good to get home Sunday evening. Remember what that pigtailed gal with the doggie said to Auntie Em? “There’s no place like home!” Of course there are always places more majestic than home. More intriguing, more evocative. We saw plenty of them on … Read more
After taking up the cause of the subjunctive last week (thanks to all who wrote to add your hoorahs!), I promised a focus on art in my upcoming posts. You may be surprised by today’s starting point. Summer foliage is about to yield to … Read more
Yesterday we awoke in the coastal town of Opatija, Croatia, covered by pillows of fog. We were unable to see the Adriatic Sea, even though the waves began a hundred feet from our balcony. Stumbling through the fog to the bus, we drove forty miles … Read more
My dreams never let go of the woods that surrounded me long ago, back when I lived for four years during grad school outside of the University of North Carolina in a little trailer down a dirt road. One of my most cherished memories from … Read more
The media flows with genuine tears over the catastrophic fire at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral. Historians would be quick to point out that such awful fires have occurred with dismaying regularity across the centuries. The difference here was the possibility of limiting the damage through … Read more
Today’s methods of communication afford instant feedback. Whereas my generation (especially girls) grew up talking on the phone for hours before getting to the point, youth today flip information back and forth faster than a ping-pong volley. We adults do it too, tablets and phones … Read more
In a tattered black-and-white photo, my second-grade teacher Mrs. Summers sits with dignity at her desk, beautifully clad in a classically tailored suit. On her desk stands a rare item of frivolity: a shoebox decorated with doilies and crepe paper. To that box we dutifully … Read more
Thanksgiving gatherings have begun to fade into memory. And whatever your strategy for avoiding (or indulging in) the retail phenomenon called “Black Friday,” this odd period is over too, or at least I hope it is over. Around here, Black Friday has been like the bad … Read more
Almost everyone I saw was reading. Was I in a library? No. I was crossing the Atlantic in an older 767—one that lacked in-seat entertainment screens (at least in economy class). The absence of TV screens gave me a bit of a shock when I … Read more
My phone’s camera went down midway on this voyage. No matter how many videos and files I off-loaded, it would not restore itself. It’s done. It’s tired. But before the camera expired, I got this picture. I took it standing on a wooden walkway that … Read more