Welcome to Braggsville: Old Times There Are Not Forgotten

March 4, 2015 · by Christina Kaylor | in Book Reviews | tagged "41 Shots", Bildungsroman, Black History Month, Civil War re-enactments, Comic relief in works of serious literature, Dramatic Irony, Outsider characters challenge the status quo, Performative Intervention, satire, T. Geronimo Johnson, The Hero's Journey, unreliable narrator, Welcome to Braggsville | 12 Comments

For years, Uncle Charles had rhapsodized about our Snell family roots in tiny Oconee, Georgia, stop #14 on the Central of Georgia Railroad between Macon and Savannah. Oconee (population 280) is the heart of Georgia and site of the Civil War Battle of Ball’s Ferry at the Oconee River Bridge. When I decided I wanted […]

Evil, Good and Woundedness: A Review of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane

August 20, 2014 · by Eve Shulmister | in Book Reviews | tagged fantasy, Interconnectedness, Joseph Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Pogo, The Hero's Journey, The Ocean at The End of the Lane, Walt Kelly, Woundedness, Yin Yang | 14 Comments

I was eleven years old – perched at the edge of puberty – and supposed to be having the time of my life. At sleepaway camp the pleasures of summer beckoned: horses, archery, a lake. Yet I was miserable. Slightly homesick, yes, but even more obsessed with a question – Why do bad things happen […]