“Havana, Cuba”
“The living conditions may likely seem less desirable for those who have never been to Cuba, but for visitors like me, the beauty lies beneath, in the warmth of its culture and its amazing people.” (photo by Donato DiCamillo)……
Dispatches
The Sense of the Story: Revisiting My Layoff One Year Later
In November 2017, I learned that my faculty position at St. Louis Community College would be one of 58 eliminated in a reduction in force. One year later, I sat with Michaella A. Thornton at Hartford Coffee in south St. Louis to…
Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was in selected theaters Wednesday night. I got my elder son to join me by telling him the Fathom event was a one-night showing. Actually, the film will be available on a streaming service soon, and I was a little embarrassed when it turned…
When the Old Becomes New
Lucinda Williams’ gravelly voice, now slurred with age and use, is like an arrowhead found along a creek bed, dulled past its prime but still revered and recognizable in its ability to pierce the heart. When I had an opportunity to catch Williams perform this week, I was…
“Balloon Platoon, Staten Island, New York”
“One day while preparing for a child’s birthday I had left my girlfriend waiting in the car with the kids for a brief period holding a gift of multi-colored birthday balloons that were meant as a gift. When I made my way back I realized a party had already started.”……
Bridge Safety Is Expensive
The American Society of Civil Engineers has said it will cost $4.5 trillion by 2025 to fix U.S. infrastructure. We have 614,000 bridges alone, a third of them more than half a century old, and 56,000 structurally deficient, says the Federal Highway Administration.
One of these, which is vital to…
To Make the Invisible Visible
This Wednesday Dr. Katie Bouman and an international team of scientists and astronomers revealed to the world the first ever picture of a black hole at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo 55 million light years away from…
Notes from the Lower-River Desk
Having spent some months driving the Mississippi Valley from St. Louis to Gulf—what used to be called “the lower river” by people other than the Army Corps—I am reminded of what there is to be gained by going over the same piece of land again and…
Igniting the Spark of Language for All
At the end of March, my daughter Luci turned two, and with this milestone of another year of life, her language abilities have taken flight. This week her preschool teacher Mr. Nick taught Luci and her classmates about cardinals, robins, and blue jays, so now Luci discusses the…
The Science of Love, Marriage, & Divorce
In the United States, most people know that over half of marriages end in divorce, making it seem like the success of a marriage is just as cavalier as a flip of a coin. Yet, new research continues to deepen that oft-repeated statistic (for instance,