RIGGED ELECTION? NOT AGAIN.
A RIGGED ELECTION? I’ll show you a rigged election, 1888-style. It makes today’s conspiracy theories sound like Sunday School play. A bit of background: The concept of ballot as we … Continue reading
FIFTY YEARS HENCE
OLD MAGAZINES ARE fun, especially when they prophetically identify something like one’s career. With this in mind, I share a compulsion of long-heralded R&T readers who carted their old issues … Continue reading
A CELEBRATION OF SAKI
H.H. MUNRO, pen name Saki, wrote 100 years ago about Edwardian England. His stories and plays are akin to those of Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse and today’s Julian Fellowes–but with … Continue reading
AN ADVENTURE, BLESSED
PARADOXICALLY, ON LAGUNA DIABLO I had an adventure that was truly blessed. Laguna Diablo is a vast dry lake in Baja California and, in the early 1980s, the R&T crew … Continue reading
CATCHING A RUM RUNNER BY VIEWING A SUNFLOWER
THE FOG LIFTS MOMENTARILY. You and your Coast Guard crew spot a Rum Runner some distance off. The fog descends immediately and the Rum Runner heads off at its known … Continue reading
BACH IN A MINUTE
I’M HAVING A BALL learning more about the history of music. But not from the work of just any musicologist. Rather, it’s from a favorite author, actor and one-of-a-kind, Stephen … Continue reading
COME ON-A BAUHAUS
IT’S ALWAYS RISKY paraphrasing old song titles, but it seemed too good to pass up “Come On-A My House” by singer Rosemary Clooney, George’s aunt. In truth, I’m early in … Continue reading
BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, C. 1905
I’VE NOT OFTEN VISITED the Low Countries, as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are sometimes called. On the other hand, my infrequent visits have been enhanced by armchair travel provided … Continue reading
“DO PUT DOWN THE REVOLVER”
THIS WONDERFUL TITLE appeared in the London Review of Books, August 14, 2016, in a book review written by Rosemary Hill, whose other work in LRB I’ve enjoyed. I’m sure … Continue reading
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIMANAITISSAYS!
THIS ITEM BEGINS the fifth year of SimanaitisSays. Once more, I thank you for your readership and interactions. Indeed, celebrating this camaraderie, I recall several notable items of the past … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 