Remembering Tayloe Murphy
Last week, I was heartbroken by the death of my very first mentor, Tayloe Murphy. He was a statesman, a family man, and a good friend. Men like him should […]
Recent Presentation on Author John Dos Passos
In June, Professor Aaron Shaheen at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, one of the best John Dos Passos scholars in the world and co-founder of the John Dos Passos Society, delivered an […]
New Poem: “Dominic Talks Fountain Pens”
The literary magazine, Cathexis Northwest Press, recently published my poem, “Dominic Talks Fountain Pens.” I’m grateful. Below the text of the poem, I explain its origin.
Art with Fountain Pens
A friend of mine is a passionate collector of fountain pens. In fact, I wrote a poem about it (still hoping to publish it). He recently showed me some of […]
New Annotated Manhattan Transfer
I’ve started digging into Donald Pizer’s new annotated version of Manhattan Transfer and it’s awesome. Here is a very helpful note on page 3 that explains the context of the title: “During this […]
The Campers at Kitty Hawk
This is a spectacularly innovative adaptation of John Dos Passos’s work. Enjoy this video of composer Michael Dellaira’s choral song based on Dos Passos’s biography of the Wright brothers in the […]
Lawton Chiles Story on French TV
Enjoy this new French TV episode on Lawton Chiles’s famous 1,000-mile walk across Florida, now at its 50th anniversary. In February, a French reporter contacted me about covering Chiles for […]
Indigenous Peoples Day
It’s hard to imagine the American Plains full of bison herds. Bison by the millions. As the U.S. expanded westward, bison were targeted by European settlers for extermination. The near-extinction […]
In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (1967) is one of my favorite films in general, my favorite film about race, and my favorite film about the South. As far as […]
The Pride of Spancil Hill
The pandemic started around St. Patrick’s Day and I bought some Irish folk songs for celebrating, not thinking much of it. Little did I know I would fall deep in […]