Category Archives: Books

Dickens and Goodness

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Kathy

Although I just finished Bleak House, which I began back in January, don’t ask me who Gridley is, because some of the minor characters are a muddle in my mind. I could tell you a little about Smallweed and Snagsby and Guppy and the … Continue reading →

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Required Reading

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Kathy

I haven’t read many books recently because I’ve been reading Bleak House, Charles Dickens’s 800-page novel of 1853. It was supposed to be my winter break project, but I started it late, after New Years, and it’s seeped into the … Continue reading →

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Afflicting the Comfortable

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Kathy

  Pope Francis’s shout-out to Dorothy Day in his speech before Congress yesterday gives me an excuse to share my favorite Dorothy Day story. Day, of course, was the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s, which still publishes … Continue reading →

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“Stories Matter. Many Stories Matter”

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Kathy

  While reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s epic novel Americanah, I checked out YouTube for a glimpse of her and found two TED talks. One’s on feminism, and the other is called “The Danger of a Single Story.” In the “story” … Continue reading →

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A Movie out of Time

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Kathy

I leapt outside my comfort zone today and saw Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult film, at my husband’s venue, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Normally this would be an easy call: I don’t see Blade Runner. I’ve never seen … Continue reading →

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On Rape, Date Rape, and What Sensible, Well-Mannered Girls Do

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Kathy

  In about 1995, I was writing a profile of the education writer Jonathan Kozol (Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities) for the alternative weekly Cleveland Edition. I was and am a big fan. I had read all his … Continue reading →

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Kathy

An avid reader, my dad was a thoughtful, liberal sort. He opposed the war in Vietnam before I did, and he supported the Civil Rights Movement ahead of most white people I knew. Despite his enlightened ways, though, he was … Continue reading →

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Animal + Music Book Titles

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Kathy

Awhile ago, I reviewed a book for the Plain Dealer called Frog Music* and soon after read a book with a similar title. My reactions to the two were very different, however. Emma Donoghue, an Irish writer who lives in … Continue reading →

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A Dog, Ovid, and Poetry

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Kathy

Prologue Sometimes things connect. I find this frequently in my teaching life, my reading life, and my life life. Suddenly lots of themes and ideas keep recurring. I can’t connect the dots among the areas I’m about to describe. I’ll … Continue reading →

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Happy Valentine’s Day, Frederic Wheelock!

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Kathy

I am a teacher blessed with terrific students. It has not always been so.  Through many years, I sometimes struggled with unkind, arrogant students, annoying ones, and lazy ones. I’ve had extremely unpleasant encounters with parents. I’ve been accused of … Continue reading →

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