“It’s Not Safe Out Here”
When Sandbox VR came looking for writers to experience its new VR games—and one of them had a Star Trek theme—I gulped and said yes, then roped in my husband, who knows Star Trek the way other people know scripture.
Dispatches
I Am a Watercolor
Slowly it dawned on me just how hard this splashy, casual medium could be. The way real fun is often harder to find than work or habit, because it has to be spontaneous yet you have to take great pains to prepare for its possibilities.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Nearly a year ago I was an extra (“background”) for the third Guardian movie, shot in Atlanta and due to be released in May 2023. When filming for that portion wrapped, producers asked if we wanted to stay on another week or more to shoot the holiday special.
The Mirror, Crack’d
The morality in Agatha Christie’s books plays no tricks on us. Law and order will prevail. Cozy comfort is impossible without its backdrop.And so, we have Jane Marple: clear-eyed, ruthless in the honesty of her appraisals, with a tart tongue but a warm heart.
The Ministry of Small Things
We may not know yet all we have suffered, let alone any of what we will. It is easy to feel small and alone. I am thankful for the constancy of small things.
Playing Telephone
We are overstimulated, overavailable, overbusy, and a long, meandering, curled-up-on-the-sofa chat seems an impossible luxury. Funny, how improvements so often subtract from life’s quality.
Clarice Lispector, Brazil’s Most Beloved and Enigmatic Writer
Brazilians embraced her as their finest modern author, yet. Her writing process was intuitive, soaked in emotion, and “entirely unconscious”; you would never guess she studied law.
Persona
The persona was the mask worn by actors in ancient Greece—but its purpose was not to fool the audience about the actor’s identity. The mask’s exaggerated expressions helped define the character, and most important, the mask functioned as a tiny megaphone, making the actor’s voice more audible.
Remembering Paul Schoomer
Paul Schoomer did not care whether you came to buy or browse. For nearly thirty years, from 1969 to 1996, Schoomer was the purveyor of fine books in St. Louis. Along with his wife Suzanne, he made Paul’s Books into "Cheers" for bookworms.
Books Save the Queen
Primarily a playwright, Bennett won acclaim for "The History Boys" and "The Madness of George III." That theatrical sense of pacing and dialogue keeps "The Uncommon Reader" sparkling, even (or perhaps especially) during the Queen’s internal monologues.