Beer Makers Are Getting Crafty to Serve People Learning to Lead a Gluten-free Life

May 28, 2010 Beery Scribblings

To celebrate American Craft Beer Week, which was held May 17th-23rd, I got in touch with my inner Yankee and set out to discover something new and different. I’m not sure how successful I was, but sometimes achievement is measured by how much you learn, not how far you reach. You may be wondering, “American [...]

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It’s No Myth: Fathers and Sons Who Read (and Write) Together Can Grow Together

May 18, 2010 Bookish Babble

Sometimes, the best way to learn something about yourself is to make a connection with someone else. I suspect my wife and oldest daughter understand this. Over the past several years, they have developed a close relationship in an unlikely way — by reading books. Most moms and their girls pal up over other, more [...]

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When It Comes to Some Tribute Records, Mature Imitation May Be Most Flattering

May 4, 2010 Musical Musings

As T. S. Eliot once famously remarked, regarding the nature of talent and artistic development, “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” And although Eliot was lashing out against critics who accused his allusive poem The Waste Land of mere plagiarism, he was also providing a valuable template for any would-be artist, whether bard or bass [...]

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Versatility Is a Virtue Worth Seeking When Selecting Beers for a Springtime Soiree

April 26, 2010 Beery Scribblings

Spring is a time of renewal. I know that sounds painfully obvious. But to stay grounded in this hyperspeed workaday world in which I dwell (and tend to dwell on), every once in a while I have to stop and remind myself of such simplicitudes. Fortunately, I don’t have to look very far for evidence [...]

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A Bouquet of 10 New Songs for Spring

April 13, 2010 Musical Musings

When is a selection of new music like a flower garden? Right now, actually. With the year barely one-quarter old and the ravages of winter not quite a distant memory, there is plenty of budding already occurring, on the stem and in the ears. New songs are cropping up with the same frequency and intensity [...]

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It’s a ’70s Thing: Learning to Fall in Love Again With the Songs of Alex Chilton

March 26, 2010 Musical Musings

“I never travel far without a little Big Star.” When I first heard Paul Westerberg of The Replacements sing those words back in 1987, in the bridge to a tribute song called “Alex Chilton,” I took them at face value. They seemed like a boast, a call to arms, even. I didn’t know what Big [...]

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Go Red When You’re Wearing o’ the Green

March 15, 2010 Beery Scribblings

The signs are everywhere: from the daffodils and crocuses thrusting (like “gilded phaloi,” as Ezra Pound once described them) through the re-emerging, thawing ooze, to the shamrock on the mask of Olympic goalie Ryan Miller, painted on in honor of Jim Craig’s miracle on ice contribution 30 years ago. In other words, spring, the start [...]

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‘It Happens Despite Me’: Learning the Lessons of Nearly Meeting Lucille Clifton

March 9, 2010 Bookish Babble

All too often, as I’ve come to discover, it takes the death of a writer before I finally take a serious interest in his or her books. Such was the case a few times in the past year or so. After hearing about the death of someone whose work I either knew in passing, such [...]

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Two New Excuses for Spending a 'Weekend' with a 'Beach House'

February 20, 2010 Musical Musings

We recently made you a mixtape of new songs designed to be a distraction from the wrath of The Snowpocalypse (and the inevitable Shovelations) and to inspire you to take a brief mental, warm-weather “staycation.” And normally that’s how we roll, allowing the sum of the parts — in this case, 10 songs by 10 [...]

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On Valentine's Day, Say Cheese (and Beer)!

February 9, 2010 Beery Scribblings

Not too long ago, I had to face a harsh reality: lactose no longer tolerates me. And not the other way round, either. I’ve got nothing against the disaccharide sugar component of a glass of milk. We were BFFLs, in fact. Milk helped sweeten a lot of unpleasant and otherwise bland foodstuffs, like oatmeal. And [...]

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