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Falconry Made Fascinating: Mcdonald’s memoir H is for Hawk

For anyone who has felt an affinity with animals, particularly birds, this memoir—H is for Hawk—is not to be missed. What a remarkable evocation of animal life and of the animal dimension of our human existence. The author, Helen Macdonald, seems to have lived so closely with her trained goshawk, Mabel, that she has inhabitedContinue reading “Falconry Made Fascinating: Mcdonald’s memoir H is for Hawk”

An Essay Collection that Will Wake You Up Emotionally

BE WITH ME ALWAYS is a rich read, full of relational insight. The essays have a risky “out there” feel because the author, Randon Billings Noble, is not afraid to explore her own raw emotions. I relate to her inclination to go back in time, exploring the relationships that haunt her the most. Like her,Continue reading “An Essay Collection that Will Wake You Up Emotionally”

Funny, Disturbing, but Worth Reading

Patricia Lockwood, knock on wood, is one of the funniest memoir writers I have encountered, and that’s coming from a veteran reader with shelves of dog-eared memoirs. In essence, Priestdaddy is her irreverent send-up of life in the care of a bombastic Catholic priest, who, because of a special exemption for already-wedded converts, is allowedContinue reading “Funny, Disturbing, but Worth Reading”

Want a new perspective on fatherhood?

Exploded View: Essays on Fatherhood, with Diagrams by Dustin Parsons (Goodreads Author) Tim Bascom‘s review Using diagrams and short, lyric essays, Dustin Parsons offers the reader a fascinating look inside the head of a young father, with all the attendant shadows of his own childhood present as he moves into marriage and parenting. This is not aContinue reading “Want a new perspective on fatherhood?”

New book accepted for publication

Great news. Light Messages Publishing has just accepted my new collection of stories about the ever-changing and always-the-same bond between boys and dads. Titled Climbing Lessons

Ethiopia Receives President Obama at a Critical Juncture

This summer President Obama did something no standing U.S. president has done before–he went to Ethiopia. There’s a reason for his decision.

Arab Spring turns to Fall?

As we watch refugees pouring out of Libya on illegal boats (sometimes thrown off in the Mediterranean) or see tourists bombed in a Tunisian museum or read about the supposed Egyptian reformer President Morsi being sentenced to 20 years in jail for torture of protesters

Want to help Ethiopian kids read?

Ethiopia Reads, begun by award-winning children’s author Jane Kurtz, is building libraries in towns and villages all around Ethiopia.

Take a quick jazz tour of Ethiopia

In this remarkable video, you can get a quick feel for the unique jazz tradition in Ethiopia, which reached a peak in the early 1970’s just before the fall of Emperor Selassie.