Category Archives: Literary

A Life Well-Lived

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As many other people have reported, this is the best obituary ever. It’s gone viral in a major way and deservedly so. Having lived for the first 25 years of my life in the South, I do appreciate a delectable Southern character. I would have loved to have known Mr. Stamps, I believe.

Harry Weathersby Stamps, ladies’ man, foodie, natty dresser, and accomplished traveler, died on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

Harry was locally sourcing his food years before chefs in California starting using cilantro and arugula (both of which he hated). For his signature bacon and tomato sandwich, he procured 100% all white Bunny Bread from Georgia, Blue Plate mayonnaise from New Orleans, Sauer’s black pepper from Virginia, home grown tomatoes from outside Oxford, and Tennessee’s Benton bacon from his bacon-of-the-month subscription. As a point of pride, he purported to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life.

via Harry Stamps Obituary: View Harry Stamps’s Obituary by The Sun Herald.

Follow-up story in the Gulfport (MS) Sun Herald.

Quote of the Day

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A valuable truism from my friend and former colleague David Ebenbach.

THE ARTIST’S TORAH quote of the week (and happy Purim!): “People succeed by allowing themselves to enter the fear, to pass through it or to live with it. As artists, we have to open ourselves up to this experience. What frightens you? What do you desperately not want to deal with in your work? What wall of water stands in your way?”

(from the chapter “B’shallach: Fear”; each chapter is a week of the year, a week of exploration of the creative process. I’m planning to post a quote from each chapter, one per week, for as long as I can keep it up.)

You can find out more about The Artist’s Torah here:

The Artist’s Torah | David Ebenbach

David’s guide to the creative process, THE ARTIST’S TORAH, is an uplifting and down-to-earth guide to the creative process, wide open to longtime artists and first-time dabblers, to people of every

 

Do You Mispronounce These Words?

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11 words you’re probably mispronouncing – The Week.

Hmmm, interesting. I have to say, the first word SHOCKED me. In fact, I’m sure it will shock just about everyone that reads the list. The rest, well, happy to say I pronounced my way to 10 out of 10!

Truth in Advertising: I was a talking-on-the-radio-and-tv major in college. I done learned t’talk good.

Shakespeare and the Syph — Comic Superhero Duo or Freakishly Literary VD?

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Did Shakespeare Have Syphilis? | PBS NewsHour.

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A report from the NewsHour on possible illnesses of famous literary figures. There’s a new book out, natch. Whenever you think about the follies and foibles of modern medicine, think about this:

[John] Milton is known to have “dabbled in physic,” or taken popular medicines of the day in a failed attempt to save his eyesight. These may have included “mummy” (ground-up human bones or flesh), human sweat, cat-ointment, oil of puppies, and sugar of lead, the last of which may have led to Milton’s gout and kidney failure.

OIL OF PUPPIES???