Author Archives: Boz

Cheeseburgers and Pepsi at the Lord’s Table

I have walked around with the name of Charles Darwin taped to my back. I have written personal questions on a paper airplane and thrown it across the room. I have been blindfolded and forced to navigate an obstacle course … Continue reading

Posted in love, religion | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rutherford B. Hayes, Who Are You–and Why Are You Tormenting Me?

In the summer of 2012, my husband and his 12-year-old daughter went on a 2,200-mile bicycle trek from Selma, North Carolina, to Austin, Texas. They slept mostly in tents, usually in a manner known to long-distance hikers and cyclists as … Continue reading

Posted in education, history, humor | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Sticks, Stones, and Mayhem in the Marketplace of Ideas

In a lifetime of writing, I have spent many grueling hours perfecting the art of the compelling introduction–to say nothing of the time spent crafting clever and thought-provoking titles. For my current topic, however, I am afraid that I have … Continue reading

Posted in education, history, language | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Napple, a Norange–and a Numpire

In the third grade, we guffawed about Little Johnny, who left out the P when reciting the alphabet because it was running down his leg. Those of us with more highbrow tastes in humor also found amusing his further adventures: … Continue reading

Posted in humor, language | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Artist’s Left-Brained Creative Sister

These are some of my dirty secrets: I won first place in the Arizona state spelling bee in 1967, and I got a prize (not first) in the state math contest in 1971. My entire freshman year of college, I … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, music, musings, photography, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Finding World War I: Fact, Fiction, and Truth in Pat Barker’s “Regeneration Trilogy”

We are living moment by moment through the centennial of the war that neither ended all wars nor made the world safe for democracy–catchphrases so cheap and aims so lofty that even as the armistice was being signed on November 11, 1918, … Continue reading

Posted in books, history, literature, poem, review, World War I | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Extrospection: Globe, Google Maps, and the Wound of Geography

I have studied with depth, breadth, and passion not only the literature, but also the history–both political and intellectual–of the American South. During the most impressionable years of my intellectual formation, I was reading Wilbur J. Cash on The Mind of the … Continue reading

Posted in geography, memories, musings | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Where There’s Smoke

At the beginning of this month, I received an email from one of my online students. She told me that she was confused about an assignment and needed some help. “I can go to the learning lab,” she continued, “but the … Continue reading

Posted in education, humor, politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Shared Experience, Shared Language: A Review of Lakoff and Johnson on Metaphor

Each of my efforts to write about George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By uncannily comprises a demonstration of its thesis. As I started to plan my review, I wrote, I am late to the dance—referring to the … Continue reading

Posted in books, language, metaphor, review, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

It Quacks Like a Duck

I have learned many important lessons since beginning this blog three months ago, and I have relearned many others. Already this morning, I have experienced one of each (in reverse order): I know a minuscule amount; and Amazon Prime is … Continue reading

Posted in education, language, metaphor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment