HBO’s biased and unethical treatment of the topic of “pay for play” in college football in their Wednesday night broadcast “Real Sports” proves that yellow journalism is alive and well.
Am I so naive to think that “pay for play” couldn’t or doesn’t happen? Not at all. But HBO’s show gives no evidence that it does.
Here’s what we have:
1. Four former Auburn players who claim to have received money from an Auburn booster or coach while they were student athletes.
2. All four of these players left Auburn with results ranging from …

Ever since I read Ana’s review of Lord of the Flies, I’ve been mulling over in my head about how important context is to a text when you read it. Her point is that the idea of entitled school-aged boys turning evil doesn’t seem so novel in the wake of Columbine and other similar tragedies, but in 1954 when Lord of the Flies was first published, it was.
And so as I listened to Daniel Defoe’s 1722 novel, Moll Flanders, I had to keep reminding myself of context. In 2011, Moll …

The first book that I read by Sue Miller – While I Was Gone – I loved. I even really liked Lost in the Forest. But The Senator’s Wife I just flat out didn’t like. I can’t say that it did nothing for me, because in fact, by the end, I was shouting back at the CD player in my car. And, this may be the one book I liked the least that I have the most to say about.
In The Senator’s Wife, Miller takes a not-so-coincidental look at what …

Chris Cleave’s Little Bee has been praised all over the world. But for whatever reason, I had little interest in reading it. Maybe it was because one of the narrator’s is a teenage Nigerian girl. Maybe it was because I felt it was yet another indictment of Western imperialism. Maybe it was because the cover wasn’t very intriguing to me.
Whatever it was, I’m glad it didn’t win. This book is a true gem.
Cleave begins with one of several metaphors, which is one of his strengths as a writer. For the …

Happy Mardi Gras & Fat Tuesday, and in honor of the day, I want to share with you one of my favorite songs from my friend Derek Toomey’s CD Kiss on the Wind. The song features Jo-EL Sonnier on the accordian, a well-respected Cajun musician.
(For more of Derek’s music, follow the link to his website under “Other Items of Leisure.”
Click here to listen the song.
Evangeline
Down in Evangeline that Cajun Mardi Gras
Makes a boy a man; it’s a rite of passage in the swamp
The French call it Courir, runs in our …

John Irving’s latest novel, Last Night in Twisted River, thrusts another unforgettable character into his reader’s imaginations. Like Garp and Owen Meany, Ketchum, a grizzly old log-driver, won’t easily be forgotten.
Centered on the dichotomy of a gruff exterior and tender heart, Ketchum’s character comes to life in his relationship and utter loyalty to Danny Baciagalupo, a boy of 12 when the story opens, and Danny’s father, the camp cook, “Cookie” or Dominic Baciagalupo. A strange accident forces Danny and his father to flee Twisted River, the logging camp that has …