Author Archives: Uncomely and Broken

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About Uncomely and Broken

I am a classicist in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Venus and Jupiter

Visible in the Western sky this week, for those of us in North  America, will be an especially stunning conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter.  The two planets will come within 3 degrees of each other just after twilight … Continue reading

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Protected: The Coyote and the Cliff

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Protected: The Dance of the Graces

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Canis Major

It was cold but clear on Sunday night as I took out the trash and, as has become traditional, the dog rushed out with me for one last run around in the woods. She disappears into the dark but can … Continue reading

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Liesegang Bands Not Fossils

We were out hiking one day last spring when I decided to rest on a large boulder while the boys played in a nearby stream.  As I got ready to sit down, I noticed some formations in the rock, pictured … Continue reading

Posted in Sewanee, The South | 1 Comment

Protected: Adventures in Etymology! Cacafuego

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Some Jars in Tennessee

In the woods behind my house there is a bunch of junk.  Railroad ties, rusty oil drums, the top of a washing machine with an attached wringer, et cetera, all of it old, haphazardly deposited, and overgrown with moss.  My … Continue reading

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Testa dell’Efebo

Last fall, Humanities magazine published an essay I wrote about the relationship between a poem by Tennessee Williams and a statuette the playwright had once owned, now here in Sewanee.  Both are pasted below. Testa dell’ Efebo Of Flora did … Continue reading

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“Redheads Mean Trouble”

Sometime back in the 90’s, my wife found this old notebook that had belonged to my mother as a schoolgirl.  In it are several chapters of a murder-mystery she had written called “Redheads Mean Trouble.” I’m not sure how old … Continue reading

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Blockheading and Boxing Enough

The teaching of Latin a century or two ago was predicated on its very difficulty, the mastering of which offered a “mental discipline” that usually required an accompanying physical component.  Champions of classical education in the eighteenth and nineteenth century … Continue reading

Posted in Boston, Classics, Education | 1 Comment