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Ostracize
I finally added the first installment of little etymology curiosities…here it is: I learned about the origins of this word when reading Plutarch. In one of his biographical sketches (I don’t remember which), he explains how ancient Greeks in Athens would periodically vote to kick someone out of Athenian society. Individual citizens did this by…
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London Calling
I was feeling down earlier today, sad and a little alone maybe. I rode on the train to a physiotherapy appointment and everyone in the train car seemed downcast, isolated, and grim. It made me think of the poem London by William Blake: I wander thro’ each charter’d street,Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.And…
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The Lost World
I just finished reading The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (1912). I had a great time reading this adventure story, and felt like a child at times, basking in the wonder of exploration and discovery. It’s a fun adventure with some memorable characters (and great names; one character is Professor Challenger!). It’s also an…
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Theodore the Poet
As a boy, Theodore, you sat for long hoursOn the shore of the turbid SpoonWith deep-set eye staring at the door of the crawfish’s burrow,Waiting for him to appear, pushing ahead,First his waving antennae, like straws of hay,And soon his body, colored like soap-stone,Gemmed with eyes of jet.And you wondered in a trance of thoughtWhat…