Category Archives: history

Something Old

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Boz

I still have the tattered Golden Book of Nursery Tales (1948) and Mother Goose Book of Nursery Rhymes (1953) presented to me at birth. At a time in my life when preserving the past evidently mattered less to me, I removed the … Continue reading →

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Erasing History: The 2017 Version

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Boz

“In February 1948, the Communist leader Klement Gottwald stepped out on to the balcony of a Baroque palace in Prague to harangue hundreds of thousands of citizens massed in Old Town Square. That was the great turning point in the … Continue reading →

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Reading, Watching–and Smelling–World War I

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Boz

More than a year ago, I decided to observe the centenary of World War I by using it as the theme of my English composition classes devoted to writing across the curriculum.  To that end, I have immersed myself in a wide assortment of … Continue reading →

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50 Years Ago: My 15 Minutes on the Front Page

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Boz
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Metatext: Memories in the Margins

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Boz

Two weeks ago, on March 18, I saw The Sense of an Ending on the second day of its run at the Cameo Art House Theater in Fayetteville. In 2011–specifically, “Thanksgiving 2011, Lake Mattamuskeet” according to my notation on the flyleaf–I read … Continue reading →

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The Tale of John Leak and His Foot of Clay

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Boz

Once upon a time, spring had begun for the more than 4,000 people in a booming Southern town named after the Marquis de Lafayette. Trees and shrubs—forsythia, azaleas, redbuds, and wild cherries— provided a dazzling palette of yellow and pink … Continue reading →

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E Plebnista: A Sardonic Meditation on American Greatness

Posted on November 25, 2016 by Boz

Twenty long days have passed since I last put thoughts to words and words to (virtual) paper. I have not written about the gleeful euphoria with which I anticipated the election of 2016, the exquisite pain with which I learned of … Continue reading →

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

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Boz

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 →

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Sticks, Stones, and Mayhem in the Marketplace of Ideas

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Boz

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 →

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

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Boz

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 →

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