Author: abendelow
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Memoir/book review: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Emerson’s idealism encounters Camus’ reckoning with the absurdity of human suffering.
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Memoir: Rôle-modeling (1986-94)
Being a rôle model came with my first class of students, a whole new identity outside the classroom that I’d need to embody in order to keep my job in Reagan’s America. The drug tests I had to pass and the expectation of impeccable behavior and bottomless sacrifice were implicit but persistent warnings in my…
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Memoir: a holiday tradition I no longer do
At the risk of sounding racist, maybe it’s the German roots– the reason for the strong musical culture of Elmhurst, Illinois. The Germans who settled there in the 1860s,–Messers Wolf, Glos, Schumacher and Heidemann–loved their Bach, Brahams, and Beethoven. They along with the kapellmeisters at the German language seminary (the future Elmhurst University) may have…
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Memoir: Cold War (2005)
Our first concern is to erect shelter, and Bob is our captain, we his obedient crew.
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Memoir: a near miss (1972)
Far surpassing the brightness and rapidity of burning firecracker powder, the shell’s gunpowder burn is intense, a satisfying reward for the effort it takes to dislodge the pin.
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Memoir: My father the war veteran (1970)
Sarah and I exchange a nervous smile. This is so strange! Where is this going?
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Memoir: Ofrenda para mis padres
On the bottom tier are candles: one at true north, whence comes the cold, one to the south, whence nourishing warmth, one to the east, where the sun rises, and a final to the west, where each day’s light goes to die. The candles orient souls on their long voyage back from the spiritual realm,…
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Memoir: from Captain Fantastic (1974) to Quadrophenia (1980)
The music hadn’t changed a bit. But I had.
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Memoir: A skill I’m grateful for
At ten-years old I felt confused by life and my place in it. My sad mood set me apart from my peers, and one day I found myself singing my alienation in a way that soothed me. It went, No one told me why, Sweet Jesus, no one told me why./No one told me why…
The Wikiness 