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The Mug Shot Throne: A Modern Fairy Tale Movie in Four Acts

the war lord forced off his horse cherry blossoms In light of recent developments, specifically the inaugural mugshot of a US president, I’ve been wondering exactly where we might be in the movie...

“Oppenheimer” Movie Visually Fierce, Conceptually Flawed

I’m as conflicted with Christopher Nolan’s movie “Oppenheimer” as the protagonist is with his own internal conflict. The film raises a lot of important questions, and the...
My dad, Robert M. White, sitting in his chair.

A Picture of My Father

My dad, Robert Meredith White, was born in 1910 in Laud, Indiana. He enrolled at Indiana University playing trumpet in the marching band, pre-law. He went into the Marines at age 20, into the signal...

Cries for Help

Saturday mornings in my neighborhood are usually very quiet. A neighbor cutting wood for the winter, the sound of a family building a fence. Rarely screams for help. I got up late. It had been a few...

I Wrote My Own Obit

I was sitting in the morning sun in my living room recently when I started to think about what people would say at my funeral. I began putting together a playlist in my head of Foo Fighter songs that...

Hanshan – A Cold Mountain Companion

In Sensai Kaz and Peter Levitt’s book, The Complete Cold Mountain, (Shambhala, 2018), the legendary hermit poet, Hanshan, or, Cold Mountain, as he is often referred to, is an elusive character, but a...

Masque of the Red Death

IT WAS MY FIRST HALLOWEEN PARTY  in college, and although it wasn’t my first introduction to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, it was the first time I felt the full impact of a Gothic horror story...

My Writing Wolf

Last night was the 2014 NM-AZ Book Awards Banquet when the finalists gathered to find out who won in dozens of categories. My first book, “Dizzy Sushi” was in the nonfiction category and I felt...

Frozen Placenta

I was almost finished defrosting the refrigerator when I stuck my nose in the freezer and a rotting smell hit me. I moved the ice cube trays out of the way and saw two large plastic bags in the back...

Two Women, Two Films: “Arrival” and “Jackie”

I watched two movies with women protagonists this weekend. The films couldn’t have been more different, but each in its own way, was a discerning moving portrait. Both women are asked to do the...

Which Nosferatu Should I Watch?

Does clarity make Gothic horror more horrible? Yes, it does. That’s why you’ll want to watch the infamous “Nosferatu” (1922) Kino Restored version. Otherwise, those toothy fangs will just make you...

Concerning Hobbits

When Bilbo leaves his home in the Shire and doesn’t immediately mourn the fact that he forgot his pocket handkerchief, I was concerned that the new rendition of Tolkien’s simple, yet masterful story...