Romantic Heroes

When I was a sophomore in college (1955), I took a course in English Romantic Poetry.  When we were introduced to the romantic hero, our teacher gave us a standard definition, i.e., someone who rejects establishment norms and conventions and may be rejected by society...

Taking a Knee

When I saw the news clip showing Colin Kaepernick poised on one knee during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL football game, I immediately wanted to know more about him.  As I listened to the furor that ensued and heard people hurl accusations of...

Mutability

I recently read an article about the famed ballerina, Natalia Osipova, and her signature role as Giselle in the story ballet of that same name.  She has performed in the past with the American Ballet Theatre and, more recently, with the Royal Ballet Company in...

For Binky

        For Binky perched atop a tiny ladder each holds fast to her balloon oblivious to the children, the party, the camera it’s my birthday–I’m five– just visible above the antique dining table my hair stuck into a wiry rat that itches and...

The Kentucky Derby

I’ve loved horses since I was a very little girl.  When I was about nine, I read all the black stallion books by Walter Farley.  Then I asked for books about horse breeds here and in Arabia.  As puberty approached, I decided to be a horse–Smokey, the horse...

“Let sleeping dogs lie”

In a recent article in the Birmingham News, several white residents of Montgomery said, when asked their opinion about the newly opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice, some version of “let sleeping dogs lie.”  A few even used that exact phrase. ...