When the family invaded the biggest city on a junket to see one of the girls and threw in Swarthmore to see another . . .,April of ’97, my friends, when the city probably never looked better . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/when-the-family-invaded-the-biggest?sd=pf

The Paradox of the Misanthropic Naturalist Animal Lover. Deny God, devalue man, and end up bear scat.

https://open.substack.com/pub/williamfvallicella/p/the-paradox-of-the-misanthropic-naturalist?r=7gnir&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Four hundred years of Blaise Pascal, whose words ring today as true as ever vs. spiritual doubt, skepticism and atheism . . .,His birthday months away, it’s time to review his famous bet . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/four-hundred-years-of-blaise-pascal

In your backyard is a jungle, if you only look . . . Jazz by telemarketer . . . Two writers walked into a bar . . . Poetry by Keats after a night out . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/in-your-backyard-is-a-jungle-if-you?sd=pf

John Keats and other writers . . .,Standing on others’ shoulders . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/john-keats-and-other-writers

Two from Blithe Spirit Weekly

July, ’96, black-white dialog hot and heavy. Harangue or not to harangue 26 years ago. Back and forth in the newspaper. Those were the days. . . .

. . . when you could talk and talk and talk . . .

“Grease” on sex . . . Church bells noisy . . . Michigan travelogue . . . Bill Murray on the campaign trail . . .

The July ’96 report, continued . . .

GM selling cars in Mexico that “don’t go.” Microsoft thesaurus laying eggs. Chatting with the washerwoman in Japan. Addressing a black man in the South. “Harangue” rebutted by Oak Park editor . . .,From Mid-July, 1996, edition . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/gm-selling-cars-in-mexico-that-dont?sd=pf

Netanyahu household a-flutter. Sun-Times man flouts correctness requirements. Homonym issues discussed. The Margaret who grieved, another who did not, glad the sisters made her memorize poetry. . . . ,July 1996, notations . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/netanyahu-household-a-flutter-sun?sd=pf

Sir Walter Scott, “Lady of the Lake,” Cynthia Ozick, in Dumbing Down: . . . the Strip-mining of American Culture . . ., Alarm sounded in 1996 . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/sir-walter-scott-lady-of-the-lake?sd=pf

My Jesuit friend the late Charlie Law, writing in 1996 from his missionary post in Nepal about baby-girl harvesting . . . Writing from the mountain kingdom, on the roof of the world . . .

https://jimbowman.substack.com/p/my-jesuit-friend-the-late-charlie