DID SHAKESPEARE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?
PEOPLE WHO KEEP track of such things identify only three references to Christmas in all of Shakespeare’s plays. On the other hand, the Bard’s Christmas season lasted longer than ours. … Continue reading
ANOTHER ASSAULT ON THE VOA
THE PETTINESS OF Trump and his administration knows no bounds. Stalling to admit election defeat, Trump first dragged his feet and is still complicating the transition to the Biden administration … Continue reading
A NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LOW PART 2
THIS TIME AROUND, a new Trump low is achieved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and its “improved” version of the civics test administered to aspiring U.S. citizens. Today … Continue reading
A NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LOW. PART 1
NO ONE EXPECTS Trump to admit he’s a loser. But his actions and those of his lame-duck administration have reached a new low, quite an achievement given abysmal behavior thus … Continue reading
ON MISINFORMATION PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN an analysis of misinformation in its many nuances, all prompted by two Danish researchers, Vincent Hendricks and Mad Vestergaard, and their book, Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, … Continue reading
ON MISINFORMATION PART 1
IT STARTED WITH “alternative facts,” as proclaimed by Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to the president. Two days after Trump became president, she used this term to defend his boasting about … Continue reading
MUM AND DA IN VICTORIAN TIMES PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, Susan Pedersen’s London Review of Books article about Emma Griffen’s Bread Winner: An Intimate History of the Victorian Economy yielded tidbits that Mum and Da weren’t … Continue reading
MUM AND DA IN VICTORIAN TIMES PART 1
A RECENT ARTICLE in the London Review of Books enriches my understanding of Victorian life (I suspect this interest is a byproduct of my Sherlockian enthusiasm). “Mothers Were Different,” by … Continue reading
THANKSGIVING IN OUR BUBBLE
WE’RE STILL SAVORING leftovers from our Thanksgiving Day feast, admittedly practiced this year in our bubble. Back in the old days, Wife Dottie and I have hosted as many as … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 