Word of the Week: gormless (GÔRM-lĭs) Definition (Adjective) Wanting sense, or discernment. In Context "How could a gormless civilian begin to grasp the patriotic significance of it all?" Carolyn Gossage, Greatcoats and Glamour Boots: Canadian Women at War, 1939-1945, 2001.
The Country in Which I Was Born BY ATAR HADARI The country in which I was born cannot be seen anymore you can smell it sometimes turning a corner, crossing a sewer or underneath the trees that take the power-line between their flowers; sometimes crossing drainage ditches between streets you can hear it sing and the abutments of city blocks rub together like chafed skin on a cobbler’s wheel trying to make chamois out of cow tongue; and the children running in between the cars where I was born do not know there was ever any earth between these two rivers of [...]
Word of the Week: contumely (KŎN-təm-lē) Definition (Noun) Insolent reproach or abuse; insulting or offensively contemptuous language or treatment; despite; scornful rudeness; now, especially such contemptuous treatment as tends to inflict dishonor and humiliation. In Context "It is good that new ideas should be heard, for the sake of the few that can be used; but it is also good that new ideas should be compelled to go through the mill of objection, opposition, and contumely; this is the trial heat which innovations must survive before being allowed to enter the human race." Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, [...]
What I Believe BY KIMBERLY BLAESER after Michael Blumenthal I believe the weave of cotton will support my father's knees, but no indulgences will change hands. I believe nothing folds easily, but that time will crease— retrain the mind. I believe in the arrowheads of words and I believe in silence. I believe the rattle of birch leaves can shake sorrow from my bones, but that we all become bare at our own pace. I believe the songs of childhood follow us into the kettles of age, but the echoes will not disturb the land. I believe the reach of the [...]
Word of the Week: nabob (NĀ-bŏb) Definition (Noun) In extended use: a wealthy, influential, or powerful landowner or other person, especially one with an extravagantly luxurious lifestyle. In Context "Richard Croker retired after some years as Tammany leader in New York with $18,000,000 and is now living like a nabob on a beautiful estate just outside of Dublin, where he disgraces the United States flag by flying it night and day from his battlements." "Political Woodsawing," Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1905.
Short and Sometimes Sweet by Courtney Coffman In this, the latest post in our series of reflections on the nature of "good writing," Courtney Coffman captures the poetry and fun that can be found in distilling a movie to its essence. Courtney is the Manager of Lectures and Publications at the School of Architecture. A few years ago, I began taking screen-shots of various Netflix program descriptions. My collecting began while re-watching spontaneous episodes of The Office. I first noticed the series description as a witty summary: “The boss is an idiot, the workers are clueless, elaborate pranks and feuds abound. [...]
my mother’s hands BY NATE MARSHALL would moisturize my face from jaw inward the days she had too much on her hands when what needed to come through did or didn't show. she still shone, still made smooth her every rough edge, heel to brow. hugged my temples with slick hands, as if to say son be mine as if to say this i give you as if to say we are people color of good oak but we will not burn, we survive every fire without becoming ash.
Word of the Week: insipid (ĭn-SĬP-ĭd) Definition (Adjective) Wanting the qualities which excite interest or emotion; uninteresting, lifeless, dull, flat. In Context "Like some other theorists such as Schoenberg, Henry saw that music history's forward march had brought more and more overtones into use, causing composers to regard earlier, simpler overtone ratios as insipid and dull." Joel Sachs, Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music, 2012.
New Bathing Suit BY TERRI KIRBY ERICKSON My friend is wearing her new black bathing suit. It came with the proper cups, made to fill with one breast and the memory of another—which is not to say emptiness— but the fullness that comes to us, with sacrifice. There is no one more alive than she is now, floating like a lotus or swimming, lap after lap, parting the turquoise, chlorine-scented water, her arms as sturdy as wooden paddles. And when she pulls herself from the pool, her new suit dripping—the pulse is so strong in her wrists and throat, a little bird outside [...]
Word of the Week: risible (RĬZ-ə-bəl) Definition (Adjective) Capable of provoking laughter; laughable, ludicrous, comical. In Context "In the first few months of its existence the circulation of the Daily News had been stuck at a risible 26,000." Gavin Mortimer, The Great Swim, 2008.
