The following essay is an old one, originally published in Yankee, Vol. 55, no. 5, May, 1991, pp. 68-70. I’m still fond of it.
Calypso bulbosa
Every year in my English classes I teach the Odyssey,
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Yearly Archives: 2016
Odysseus’ Tree
Odysseus’ Tree
It’s August 29, 2016, and I’m in Andover, standing behind Bulfinch Hall, where I taught English for 26 years, from 1982 to 2008. I’ve come here today to attend the interment of Jean St. Pierre, who was my department chair during my first five years here.
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Cry From the Ground Excerpt
A Cry From the Ground is a sort of Maine retelling of the Cain and Abel myth. The following excerpt occurs after the heroine, Elvina Denny, has arrived in Wiscasset from New Orleans to live with her dour, taciturn father. The year is 1921.
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Raisin Balls and Time-Sharing
by 
John
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John
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In Notting Hill, Spike – Hugh Grant’s sketchy roommate, played by an off-the-wall Rhys Ifans – announces, “I’ll tell you a story that will make your balls shrink to the size of raisins.” I’ve got a story like that. It’s about a time-share.
First, you need the background:
More than a quarter century ago,
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The Fraternity in the Woods
In 1963, when I was a sophomore at Williams, fraternity rush happened, and Phi Gamma Delta happened to me. I had no idea what this event would mean for me, still haven’t, in any but the crudest sense. As I talk now with classmates, though, it seems as though many others felt I had entered The Cabin in the Woods.
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