The nature of humanity
By Ben Olson Reader Staff I recently attended a memorial service for someone who left a big impact on my life. This was before I began as publisher of this newspaper, when I was...
Tagged: back of the book
A Few Thoughts… On wilderness and what it really means
By Sandy Compton Reader Columnist Fall is falling. Sunday morning, it becomes official. I will — hopefully — be in a spot that cares nothing for the arbitrary Gregorian calendar, but is sensitive to...
Proselytizing despair
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff Pop culture started down a dark path in the early 2010s with the rise of shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, which have dominated the TV...
Gratitude from a grump
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Upon reviewing my past eight or so months of “Back of the Book” essays, I came to the conclusion that I’ve been a real downer this year. That was...
Work, work, work
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Most people will celebrate Labor Day weekend with a campout, backyard barbecue or perhaps they’ll sneak in a final lake day before we transition to raking leaves and wearing...
A few thoughts… On monogenesis and Albert Schweitzer
By Sandy Compton Reader Columnist Digging in the dictionary recently led to monogenesis, a theory that all living things evolved from a single cell — some combination of proteins and acids and God-knows-what-else that...
Bread and Cheesuses
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff I’ve started a cult. I began laying the foundations of my church in March when I rediscovered the Vitruvian food that is the grilled cheese sandwich, with its crisp-yet-soft...
Back of the book: Defending the ‘weird’ from the ‘lame’
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff After a lifetime of being called “weird,” it’s strange to see that word having its cultural day in the sun, though being deployed to such devastating political effect. “Weird”...
A Few Thoughts… On a big word, Flannery O’Connor and Alexander the Great
By Sandy Compton Reader Staff In the July 3 edition of the Reader, I confessed to gathering odd words and the names of short-lived famous people from American Heritage Dictionary’s booster seat edition. For...
Together in the graveyard
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff There’s a patch of shade behind my house hidden under the drooping boughs of ocean spray shrubs. The only markers now separating it from the surrounding forest are the...
