Category

Rhetorics

Now, Don’t Get Me Wrong: Truth, Hidden Agendas, and Subway Phatics

Yesterday afternoon in the subway, I overheard one fellow say to another: “Well, you know me, I…“ Why is it that when I hear phrases like this – phrases intended to make doubly sure that the listener knows who one is and/or what they’re up to – my reaction is t
Read More

Cracking Wise with Seneca, Eyes That Hear, and Jack London’s Boat: Bell Labs meets The Pleasure of the Text

You might consider this Part II of Ruminations…explaining itself to itself. A few followers have questioned the tone I’ve taken in my weekly mull.  Comments have ranged from “your tone is a bit snappy for my taste“, then gone downhill to “it’s
Read More

Pascal’s Wager, Sartre’s Bet, and The Santa Claus Gamble

Each December, young parents must face one of the great metaphysical dilemmas of all time…well, at least, of recent times,…that is, of recent Judeo-Christian,…ok, Christian…never mind. The point is this: Sleigh bells are ringing off the hook and your little darling leans up, sof
Read More

Voices In My Head: Stewie, Me Myself and I, Reading Quirks

A while back, I did a reading from As It Is On Earth in Maine. The following week, I read at Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Here’s a question: How does one read a story that is narrated in the first person? I mean, when the words you’re reading are being d
Read More