Reading Moby-Dick at the Newberry
Our feelings, thoughts, and memories do not change the great grinding universe. It is Ahab’s main issue, as well as Melville’s.
Essays
Goats, God, and the Grind of the Soil
Before the Baetjes built a renowned goat milk and cheese creamery selling their cheeses to gourmet specialty stores such as Zabar’s in New York City, Veronica Baetje remembered the bliss of having “a Heidi moment” in simpler times.
Pink Slips
While fewer people may be collecting unemployment benefits, the economic blow is no less painful. The statistics on women’s unemployment rates are often reported as lower than men’s, yet this statistical difference often downplays women’s layoff experiences.
The Exiled and The Devil’s Sideshow
The Angola Rodeo survives when other prison rodeos have closed because, of all places in America, Angola is the perfect stage.
We Are What We Write
As our historical record evolves from letters written in quill and ink to status updates, what we will mourn remains to be seen.
How Our New Electronic Dog Still Does Old Tricks
Rejoice, we are told: Television has never been better. And all that is old becomes new again.
The Myth of the Good Son
I suppose mothers are always trying to save their sons. And sons are always making their mothers suffer, always making their mothers need to save them. Despite my stupidity, my unworthiness, my mother was determined to save me anyhow.
If Cherokee Street Could Talk
Every era tends to think theirs is the most difficult, amazing, or inexplicable time period, but historians would remind us that this assumption is the folly of myopic thinking. The same can be said for the past century on Cherokee Street.
What It Means to Try
I was not thinking of the modern catastrophes of movement and making-do that end so many human relationships in our time. For some reason I was thinking of Bobby McHein.
Guest Editor’s Note
A man of science makes dead matter live yet abandons his own creation. A creature is composed of human body parts yet denied a place in human society. The epic struggle that ensues between creator and creature poses enduring questions to all of us.