Culture

Joe Blair grew up in Westford, Mass., and now lives in Iowa. He is the author of By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir, a story about a family in a small town which Oprah’s magazine “O” described this way: “so raw and true you’ll gasp.” On his Facebook page, Joe…

Food is a big part of Thanksgiving. For several weeks we’ve seen articles and features about how to cook a turkey or how to make new or traditional side dishes. With the division of labor in our house making me the primary cook, I pay attention to these things. Thanksgiving…

On All Hallows’ Eve By Malcolm Sharps I don’t know why it is, but so often what gets written about the world makes it seem like a worse place than it actually is. According to every book and newspaper article I’d read before I came to Livonia, Livonians hate Russians…

Marvelous Marvin Hagler and the Godfather By Charles Gargiulo My Uncle Arthur was more than an Uncle. He was my Godfather, which is like being picked to become Vice-President. You get an important sounding title but you never have to do anything unless the main guy dies or fails to…

How a Kid from the East Coast Became a Diamondbacks Fan By Neil Miller When I was a kid growing up in Kingston, New York, in the 1950s, I chose my favorite sports teams by consulting a world atlas.  My father didn’t have any strong allegiances—he cared more about golf…

Cultural Tourism, Following in the Steps of Our Artistic Heroes By Malcolm Sharps I’m making this recommendation not to the oldies of my generation but to younger people, particularly to those in their twenties and thirties; that was the age when I did it myself.  Profit from the knowledge of…