Steven Heller writes, Navigating through sprawling airports and massive sports stadiums is frustrating enough with them, and traversing through such a labyrinthine world is unimaginable without them. I refer to those minimal pictographs of man, woman, child, car, sink, toilet, etc., that—like the five famous musical notes used to communicate with aliens in Close Encounters of … Continue reading
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Required Reading – Richard Nixon was Jay Gatsby
“The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption – and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby *** John Aloysius Farrell writes: IIn April 1974, Richard Nixon went to the movies. His presidency was collapsing, a … Continue reading
Required Reading – “How to write: A year’s worth of advice from Jonathan Franzen, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, and others”
Joe Fassler writes: This year, I talked to nearly 50 different writers for the By Heartseries, a weekly column about beloved quotes and cherished lines. Each author shared the life-changing, values-shaping passages that have helped sustain creative practice throughout his or her career. Their contributions were eclectic and intensely personal: Jim Crace, whose novel Harvest was a finalist … Continue reading
Required Reading – A Point of View: Gatsby and the Way We Live Now
John Gray’s article “A Point of View: Gatsby and the way we live now” suggests that Gatsby is not the only character in The Great Gatsby who creates and adheres to an illusion. (Almost?) Everyone in the novel’s universe and and each reader does so as well. Gray writes: Not long before he died, a celebrated … Continue reading
Required Reading – Chick Lit is Dead, Long Live Farm It
Emily Matchar writes, Chick lit—hot pink covers featuring martini glasses and Manolos, stylish city girl heroines navigating the urban jungle in search of love and career—seems to have gone the way of Friends and the dotcom bubble. “A visit to any chain bookstore will testify that its heyday has definitely passed,” says Salon, quoting an editor who says, “We’ve … Continue reading
Required Reading – “The Great Gatsby’s Creative Destruction”
The Great Gatsby is more than a tragic love story. The novel – so situated in its 1920s context of prohibition, flappers, and gangsters – somehow speaks to a changing myriad of times and places by capturing issues and concerns that never truly leave the collective American conscience. As Nick Gillespie describes: The reason that … Continue reading
Required Reading – Slash: Not Just a Punctuation Mark Anymore
Anne Curzan writes an interesting article on the inherent changes in language. She writes: In the undergraduate history of English course I am teaching this term, I request/require that the students teach me two new slang words every day before I begin class. I learn some great words this way (e.g., hangry “cranky or angry … Continue reading
Required Reading – Triple-Slur Score
From a list, culled by David Bukszpan, of words excluded from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary’s third and fourth editions, published by Merriam-Webster in 1996 and 2005. In 1993, a player objected to the dictionary’s inclusion of “JEW v -ED, -ING, -S to bargain with — an offensive term,” sparking a letter-writing campaign by the National Council of … Continue reading
Required Reading – Why Every American Should Read The Great Gatsby, Again
As a high school English teacher, I read The Great Gatsby about twice every year. Sometimes it becomes a bit tiring, but then, as R. Clifton Sargo describes, the many layers and the ambiguity of this novel almost allows me to uncover something new, something that makes me think of it in a different light. Sargo … Continue reading
Required Reading – ‘Screamer,’ Slammer,’ ‘Bang’…. and 15 Other Ways to Say ‘Exclamation Point’
Punctuation can turn good writing into great writing or it can completely muddle a writer’s point. A well-placed dash emits as much as or more meaning than wonderfully arranged words or it signals convoluted and confusing text. Megan Garber argues the exclamation point is a type of punctuation that does not offer many benefits. Comparing … Continue reading
What Alana Found 