Blogroll

Is it cliché to talk about clichés?

So, someone’s come up with another list of the most annoying clichés book reviewers use. There’s 20 of them compared to the last list, which contained “seven deadly words” for reviewers.

So, how big an offender am I? Here’s what a search of the 158 posts in my “Book Reviews” category shows:

Gripping — 0 […]

Weekend Edition: 3-14

Bulletin Board

Congrats to Terry Woster for the commemoration by the state House of Representatives honoring him for his contributions to the state. Among other things, it accurately recognizes his “healthy cynicism” and that he is “a rural Renaissance Man.”

A note to fellow WordPress users: Don’t be surprised if assholes with an IP address […]

Book Review: Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven Millhauser

A number of the characters in the short stories that comprise Steven Millhauser’s Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories don’t look at others straight on or are even hidden in darkness. That seems appropriate. Millhauser’s work tends to present a view of parts of life and the human experience that most others don’t see or for which […]

Reflecting on South Dakota’s stem cell research ban

Regardless of your position on stem cell research, there’s one thing South Dakotans don’t have to worry about as a result of President Obama ending restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research. No money for or research using embryonic stem cells will be here.

Nearly 18 months before President Bush restricted funding for stem […]

Midweek Music Moment: Déjà Vu, CSN&Y

Memory is a funny thing. I struggle to recall events my friends, wife and kids remember vividly. Names continually elude me. But what really puzzles me is the relatively mundane — even inane — things that I clearly recall.

A perfect example is Déjà Vu, the album released on March 11, 1970, by Crosby, Stills, […]