Category Archives: Writing and the Arts

My dad was a journalist.
He was a number of other things as well: son of a preacher, high-school boxer, WWII volunteer, medic during the war, concentration camp liberator. Journalism student at U of Missouri. Reporter, columnist, editor.
But above all, he was a journalist — a “newspaperman,” as he liked to be called. An old-fashioned, get-it-right newspaperman.
And on this Memorial Day, as I watch the Liz Trotta clip, I’m thinking of him and what he would say.
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Some of my friends and readers know that one of my lives is that of a musician. It’s interesting how compartmentalized our lives are; many of my co-workers have no idea of this part of me, or of my long … Continue reading →

(Posted at the Texas Observer, her “home” paper) I envy all you people in Texas. No, really, I do. You got to know Molly for many years, while I only discovered her when I read “Shrub” for the first time … Continue reading →

I’ve been re-reading an important book in my life, The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes. The basic premise, of course, is that fear in all its infinite variety is part and parcel of writing, and that the act of … Continue reading →