About My StoryTimes Blog: A Low-Key Manifesto and Provisional CV — Here’s what I think: Stories tell. They tell us who we are; what we hope, believe, want, value, and fear; how to remember; and even how to forget. Stories also tell us about time, whether it’s the time when they are created, the time when they are shared, or the…

Film, Television, Joy, Essays, and (Attempted) Humor —

Twice each day, on my walk to and from the train I take to work, I pass a small park. In my head are thoughts of the day, tasks to do, or…

We all have opinions on cookies — how we feel about, say, oatmeal raisin cookies, a somewhat divisive dessert. If you enjoy them, it’s…

Duty and desire are at war for a man’s soul — The people are beautiful, the clothes are beautiful, the settings are beautiful, and the music is beautiful in season two of the Netflix series Bridgerton. Everything is beautiful, so it is an easy show to watch. Panting would-be lovers lock eyes in smoldering gazes and hold their lips centimeters apart…

After a long day, I get home and feel grimy. The early spring temperature had climbed from cold to cool to warm, and the air was moist…

There is a lot to talk about these days. Not much of it seems simple or good.

Mariama Diallo tells a horror story about race in America — When I was watching Mariama Diallo’s 2022 film Master, I could almost hear the late intellectual and activist Audre Lorde crying out, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Lorde was angry and frustrated. At American universities, scholars were generating world-changing ideas and wielding the power of these…

You learn something new every day, though I don’t always notice.