Comments for Pages & Places

Comment on ‘Pages’ made Scranton the place to be: Times Leader Scranton Edition by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:15:16 +0000

This is fantastic! Congratulations–and well earned.

Comment on New York Times Book Review: “I could not be prouder of my roots. . . . “: Scranton Celebrates its Writers by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:41:35 +0000

I am so glad to be reminded of this funny and touching tribute to Scranton by Joe Queenan–and what a perfect post to put up the day before the Festival. I will be with you in spirit tomorrow, though I would much, much prefer to be there in fact. Warm regards, and may you have a great Festival!

Comment on (Punk) Art and the City by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:58:43 +0000

I enjoyed this post thoroughly when I first read it on our Raining Acorns blog, and continue to enjoy it now. Indeed, a number of P&P’s posts, including Beverly Sheppard’s and Bill’s on Scranton, have made me much more aware of the dramatic impact support of the arts can have on smaller cities and towns–and how critical the mayor of the city or town is to this effort.

To Bill’s exemplars of Reykjavik and Scranton, add Louisville, Kentucky, whose story of renewal-by-culture is recounted in a wonderful documentary, “Music Makes a City.” In the words of Alex Ross, the movie is “an absorbing study of the Louisville Orchestra’s great campaign on behalf of contemporary music from 1948 onward. Robert Whitney, the orchestra’s scrappy young music director, undertook the seemingly suicidal scheme of presenting a new work on every subscription program . . . . Within a decade, the orchestra had commissioned more than a hundred works and recorded the vast majority of them . . . . The film brings fascinating insights into the cultural life of an American city.”

Comment on Guest Blog Susan Scheid: Metcalf to Messiaen by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:40:00 +0000

I am honored to be placed in the company of the other guest bloggers at Pages & Places. I hope P&P’s readers enjoy the article, and thank you for inviting me to write!

Comment on Guest Blog: Dr. Danielle Ofri: Health, Healing, and Literature by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:32:41 +0000

Of Danielle’s many accomplishments and awards, perhaps the one that strikes me as most apt is that from the AMWA for “preeminent contributions to medical communication.” Her essays are touching, beautiful, and true. The partnership between BLR and the Pages & Places Festival is certainly apt. Wonderful to think of this combination of literary forces at work!

Comment on Pages & Places at Rust Wire: Scranton, PA: More Than Just ‘The Office’ by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:40:46 +0000

An eloquent portrayal, from someone in a position to know, of the trajectory from life to (near) death to revival of a town. Since moving to Poughkeepsie from New York City a couple of years ago, I’ve become acutely aware how hidebound so many of us were, how acutely unaware we were of the extraordinary vitality that resides in what we thought of only as the not-New York City. I am reminded again by this article (as I’ve been reminded before by Wide Open Space’s articles about Phoenixville, PA on our Raining Acorns blog), how keenly smaller communities value what they have, how open they are to all manner of things new, and how willing they are to experiment, to try and fail and try and succeed, and to cherish and share their discoveries along the way.

Comment on Guest blog Louise W. Knight: Jane Addams: Spirit in Action by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:02:44 +0000

Jane Addams is a wonderful subject for study. She puts me in mind of another social reformer who chose against her station: Florence Nightingale. It would be interesting to know Knight’s thoughts about the similarities/differences between these two admirable women.

Comment on Shakespeare Meets the Selfish Gene: Jonathan Gottschall Applies the Scientific Method to Literature by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:40:12 +0000

I’m struck by this, although it’s hard to get my arms around the idea that “there’s a malaise among literary scholars today that can be cured with a dose of the scientific method.” I certainly got fed up with lit crit long ago, so much so that I transferred out of English in college–to history, where at least a little bit of the analysis seemed to be based on actual facts, as opposed to what someone arbitrarily dreamt up. But this, I don’t know: for one, there is something about Gottschall’s approach that seems, well, a little too male. Take this, for example: “Right away I was seeing the drama of naked apes competing for social status and material resources; as well, they were competing directly and indirectly over women.” I know, I know, he’s cross-walking from the Iliad, but nonetheless, he seems to be suggesting that there’s only one gender of apes to talk about. Darwinianly speaking, that wouldn’t have got the apes too far, now, would it have?

Comment on Pages & Places celebrates the 50 year anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:54:04 +0000

This sounds like such a terrific way to spend an evening. I am sorry I am not closer by. May all who attend enjoy!

Comment on Pages & Places, Scranton, and the Learning City by Raining Acorns

Raining Acorns — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:22:50 +0000

It’s wonderful to be reminded that a life of ideas and creativity is not confined to an academic box. There are many ways to expand the “literary campus.” We like to think that our collaborative writing blog http://rainingacorns.blogspot.com/ is part of that effort.