Some of us remember phone books—a collection of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of every household in the area, delivered once a year. A terrible waste of paper, but there was something compelling about having information on everyone in your city or town right there in one place, often a very thick binding of paper. Continue reading “Hello, Stranger”
At the climax of the animated film Ratatouille, a restaurant critic is served a plate of ratatouille prepared by Remy, a new chef who happens to be a rat. The dish, simple but sublime, transports the critic to a childhood memory of the meal, prompting him to write an ecstatic review. Continue reading “Pursuit of the Past”
Chiaroscuro. It’s a mixture of the Italian words for light and dark, and it’s a term used in painting and photography to describe how light plays against darkness to create dimension.
I thought of this word when I read an essay in Time by children’s book author Matt de la Peña, “Why We Shouldn’t Shield Children From Darkness.” He wrestles with this question: Is the job of the writer for the very young to tell the truth or preserve innocence? Continue reading “Light and Dark”