“Do you have one of those cotton-picking machines?” the pleasant lady asked. “No,” Mrs. Turpin said, “they leave half the cotton in the field. We don’t have much cotton anyway. If you want to make it farming now, you have to have a little of everything. We got a couple of acres of cotton and […] Read more

“Do you have one of those cotton-picking machines?” the pleasant lady asked. “No,” Mrs. Turpin said, “they leave half the cotton in the field. We don’t have much cotton anyway. If you want to make it farming now, you have to have a little of everything. We got a couple of acres of cotton and […] Read more

… but here is a book that is prepared to be heterodox, and not before time. So what is it all about? Even among mammals, let alone the entire Tree of Life, humans represent one minute twig of a vast (and largely fossilized) arborescence. So, it would be very poor form were we to demand […] Read more

Saying Goodbye…The island feels different without my dad. When we came here for our three weeks every summer, just the two of us, we’d stay in the little fishing shack right down by the water, curling up in sleeping bags on musty blown-up air mattresses…Every night, before we went to sleep, Dad and I would […] Read more

So your school is having a science fair! Great! The science fair has long been a favorite educational tool in the American school system, and for a good reason: Your teachers hate you. Ha ha! No, seriously, although a science fair can seem like a big “pain,” it can help you understand important scientific principles, […] Read more

“Charles Howard had the feel of a gigantic onrushing machine: You had to either climb on or leap out of the way. He would sweep into a room, working a cigarette in his fingers, and people would trail him like pilot fish. They couldn’t help themselves. Fifty-eight years old in 1935, Howard was a tall, […] Read more

p. 42 The suit is definitely the universal business outfit for men. There is nothing else that men like to wear when they’re doing business. I don’t know why it projects this image of power. Why is it intimidating? “We’d better do what this guy says. His pants match his jacket.” Men love the suit […] Read more

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow:– Psalm of David. YE who read are still among the living; but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen, and secret things be known, and many centuries shall pass away, ere […] Read more

I never meant to break his thumb. All I wanted was a ride in the elevator . The burnished brass doors were no more than ten feet away when I was gently nudged toward the right. “Pardon me…” I began. He was a big beefy kid with a flattop, smelling of scented soap and Aramis. […] Read more