Poster at St. Louis Science Center. Photo by John Griswold “Hot damn, mummies!” I heard someone say at the St. Louis Science Center, which is currently hosting the exhibit Mummies of the World. Who is not drawn to gaze on a mummy, even at $19.95 a ticket? Usually…
Screenshot from Bo Burnham’s recent Netflix special, ‘Inside.’ Comedian-musician Bo Burnham has a song in his most recent Netflix special, Inside, that admits he is “problematic.” In making a joke of something true, he either faces it or is trying to get ahead of criticism (or both),…
Trooper Haylie Polistina, from the Illinois State Police Public Information Office, at the Illinois State Fair. Photo by John Griswold The Illinois State Fair was canceled in 2020, for the pandemic, and for years before that I was living elsewhere. As we walked across the Fairgrounds yesterday to…
Artist’s diagram of the interior plan of the Hindenburg, 1936. Wikimedia Commons Humans desire a “home,” distinguished from “a house” or other dwelling by emotional attachment. Like the house, a home might have walls, a toilet, running water, a bed, the means to keep and cook food, some…
Screen capture from the Royalty Exchange website Remember when Michael Jackson bought publishing rights to songs by The Beatles, Springsteen, Elvis, the Stones, and others? He did so, famously, after Paul McCartney, collaborator and once-friend, told him it was a good investment. Then Macca spent 35 years trying…
Photo by John Griswold My friend Larry was complaining that his flight to Paris was several hours longer, now that he lived in Los Angeles instead of Chicago. “That means I have to watch three or four more movies in-flight,” he said. He is an actor. I had just…
Layla, who helps sell Sugartown watermelons at a roadside stand and is a very good girl. Photo by John Griswold. First, you best get on it, if you hope to drive that road. A lot of the beauty, charm, and squalor remains, but it has changed in the…
Lynd Ward, from ‘Madman’s Drum,’ 1930. I have written before about preparing book manuscripts for publication. But not only does each time feel different; assembling my own collections feels different from finishing single-arc books, and editing others’ books feels different yet again. A few weeks have…
Photo by John Griswold A moving box (SMALL / PEQUEÑA), taped shut and cut open several times, is labeled with a Sharpie: LIBRARY / KNICKKNACKS / & Watches / & Dive Challenge Coins. Inside are journals, books, and a little wicker basket holding money from several countries, the…
Photo by John Griswold A yellowed postcard was found recently on page four of an old edition of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris, the top of which begins, as a continuation of the previous page, “Fools. On that day there was to be an exhibition of fireworks in…