Once again, we Americans are in love with our recent past. For several decades, we’ve been recycling the fashions of our parents. (Even, yes, the fashions of the 1980s.) And for about that […]
Unleash Your Inner Author
If you need a reason to start and finish that great unwritten novel, look no further: National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us. Between November 1 and 11:59:59 on […]
Name That Text
What canonical American author penned the following lines, and what is the story called? The other day, having a leisure hour at my disposal, I stept into a new museum, […]
Daily Miracles: Science in Everyday Life
If you’re heading off to a biology class anytime soon, thank Jan Amos Komenský. If you’ve ever taken a painkiller, thank François Magendie. And if you’ve ever been entertained by […]
On Escapology, Contortionism, Pantomime and Magic Lanterns: Victorian Popular Culture
“I was born—that fact is undisputed and undisputable. I make no apology for that! but I apologise for appearing before you in the character of an autobiographist. I never wrote a […]
The Cowboy is Dead, Long Live the Cowboy
“I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.” The phrase comes from an old cowboy ballad, “The Streets of Laredo,” also known as “The Cowboy’s Lament,” about a dying […]
Haiku You 2: Winning Poems
A few weeks ago, we asked you to send us haiku in celebration of poetry month. And you did! Over 80 haiku were submitted to our haiku contest—thoughtful, sad, funny, silly, weird […]
Vote for Haiku!
JHU students, Faculty, staff, alumni, friends: vote for haiku! Choose your favorite In each sweet category, Plus one best in show. Your friends and colleagues have written such cool poems– […]
The force that through the green fuse drives the poem
(With apologies to Dylan Thomas.) Since it’s poetry month, and since we are a library, well, it seems a good idea to consider some brouillons d’ecrivain!—the writer’s drafts—the manuscripts. Yes, […]
Haiku You, JHU
It’s April, showers and all. If your month’s to-do list feels somewhat strained in its range— Attend many classes, write many papers, take many exams. Figure out what to think/feel about […]