LAWRENCE Blogs

Come with me, if you dare, to the most haunted place in Lawrence. Where ghosts linger on pages; where phantoms move furniture around in the night; where ghouls

Living under late-stage Capitalism is WEIRD. Iced lattes are somehow a bajillion dollars if you ask for oat milk. Celebrities are now rich enough they can, like, go up into space on a random Tuesday, and I'm sat here wondering if buying yet another candle is considered a "treat" because I have a tummy ache…

Next to me sit two fat books, over 1,500 Pulitzer Prize-winning pages, on J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb. Which with some effort I will now push aside, despite my interest in the matter. There are other issues of importance at hand. Two new titles on the theme of wilderness have held my attention…

Just kidding. I know exactly why they aren't: because there is pitiful nutritional value. As I round the end of my fourth decade on this good green-and-blue earth, I consider my relationship to food. For some of us, it's a mechanical process that is necessary by dint of our stomach rumbling and once we're done…

There is something exciting about getting on a long flight and looking through the movie selection to find a film to occupy your time.

In Japan, summer vacation begins right around the time ours is coming to an end – in August. But did you know that in the land of sushi, Shinto shrines and anime, summer in Japan is also traditionally the season for ghost stories? That’s right! For centuries, the Japanese have honored their ancestors with a…

Monster Romance has been quietly gaining traction and quietly evolving within the Romance genre for years. But before we dive into the history, let’s define our genre a bit. Monster Romance encompasses any romance that features a main character/love interest that is decidedly not human. They can be an alien, mythical creature, dinosaur, cryptid, etc…

This is it, folks. Tom Hanks and I, although forever bonded by these 15 months we've spent together, are officially on a break. Well, until I see Asteroid City in the next couple of weeks. If you've been following along this whole time, thank you! If you haven't, you can find my old blogs here…

Ten years ago I boldly reviewed a book called Reinventing Bach, despite the fact that I'm musically illiterate. Against some coworkers' advice, I've also posted a rather negative review of an up-and-coming author's book (which several people told me they appreciated), and even "reviewed" a book I hadn't read. Now I'm going to try to…