Espada, Martín. The Trouble Ball. 2011. New York: Norton, 2012. Espada gave a reading at my college this past Thursday, and I also had the privilege of having him speak in one of my classes. He is everything a writer should be: passionate, activist, happy to talk about his work, non-elitist. His poems are funContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently: Massachusetts Writers Edition”
Tag Archives: New York Mets
Brief Thoughts on the Baseball Hall of Fame
The Baseball Hall of Fame announced today that no new members were elected from the players’ ballot. Jonah Keri has an excellent column here about why this result is ridiculous, but not catastrophic. As a Mets fan, I was all ready to write an outraged post if Mike Piazza didn’t get elected, but since noContinue reading “Brief Thoughts on the Baseball Hall of Fame”
Thoughts on the R.A. Dickey Trade
Barring a failed physical this afternoon, the Mets will trade R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays for several blue chip prospects. Rany Jazayerli explains in an article on grantland.com why this is a bad move for the Mets, but I think it is a reasonable move for the Mets (and for the Blue Jays, thoughContinue reading “Thoughts on the R.A. Dickey Trade”
Paul Lukas’s Fascination With Interesting Things
I’ve written here before about Paul Lukas’s Uni Watch site, which is a daily stop in my internet wanderings. One of the reasons I love Uni Watch is that Lukas’s material aesthetic is very close to mine: he’s obsessed with fine craftsmanship, enjoys older objects, and has an eye for fine detail (and, like me,Continue reading “Paul Lukas’s Fascination With Interesting Things”
Katie Baker on Mike Francesa
Katie Baker has a hilarious column on grantland.com about Mike Francesa’s show this past Monday: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8452270/the-jets-giants-mike-francesa-bad-weekend-nyc-sports. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of listening to WFAN, New York City’s all-sports radio station (the jingle comes into my head immediately: “Sports radio sixty-six, the FAN! W-F-A-N, New York!”), in the afternoon after coming home from juniorContinue reading “Katie Baker on Mike Francesa”
Left Field Cards and Some Thoughts on Obsession
I just read an article by Paul Lukas (http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/6053/the-coolest-baseball-cards-of-the-year) about Left Field Cards (http://www.leftfieldcards.com/index.html), an art project by Amelie Mancini that consists of quirky sets of baseball card-esque postcards. I love paper culture, and I love baseball, and I love the nostalgia evoked by baseball cards (I collected them avidly as a boy), so I absolutelyContinue reading “Left Field Cards and Some Thoughts on Obsession”
Johan Santana, Mets Legend
Tonight Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in New York Mets history (boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=320601121). As a life-long Mets fan, it is difficult to describe how amazing I feel. The Mets have existed since 1962 and were one of only two Major League teams (out of 30) to have never thrown a no-hitter (the San DiegoContinue reading “Johan Santana, Mets Legend”
Why I Care About Sports
This post is for all you haters out there (you know who you are!) who mock otherwise-intelligent people like me for being sports fans. My colleagues in academia are often baffled when they find out that I follow sports. Part of this surprise is a form of classism: sports fandom is seen as blue collar,Continue reading “Why I Care About Sports”
Blogging Again.
Welcome to my new blog! I’ve made several previous attempts at blogging that have been derailed for various reasons. The most recent, and most successful, which died due to technical difficulties, is here: http://www.anewyorkerinexile.blogspot.com/. But I’m paying for this one, and one would hope that this factor will give me extra motivation. This summer myContinue reading “Blogging Again.”
Daniel Shank Cruz 