More reading of Jesse Hill Ford, my literature professor. He’s a cross between Faulkner and Joyce. A real inspiration. I can’t believe I sat in his class and watched him read these great Southern classics to us. MOUNTAINS OF GILEAD.
Red
I was seven years old in 1961, and I saw Roger Maris hit many home runs at Yankee Stadium that summer, including one double-header against the Chicago White Sox on July 26, when he hit four home runs and Mickey Mantle hit a homer as well. I was not at Yankee Stadium to see Maris hit his 61st home run, but I wish that I had been there. Here he is in the photograph behind me. Talk about taking the bull by the horns. (Second photo)
There were thousands of these birds flying toward Malibu today. According to bird expert Dan Cooper of LACoBirds Yahoo Group:
“I was there and these were Black-vented Shearwaters massing off Will Rogers State Beach. 100s or low 1000s. This is by far the most and largest number I’ve seen inshore so far this year, and it was amazing. Pelicans diving just a few meters offshore too. Spectacular.”
Dan Cooper
Ventura Co.
In the spring of 1975, I took a literature class (mostly Southern) from the great Jesse Hill Ford, at the University of Rochester. I’m now reading Jesse works and learning about his troubled life. I’m also collecting some of his signed books, such as this one, THE CONVERSION OF BUSTER DRUMWRIGHT, which is a great play. The question is, who is Rebecca?
Here’s a link to my essay “John Burroughs and Yosemite” at the North American Review blog, just published. Thanks to Jeremy Schraffenberger, editor of this, the oldest literary magazine in the United States, for giving me the great honor of melding the subject of John Burroughs (who wrote many essays for the North American Review) with my own writings. Jeremy edited a new book MANIFOLD NATURE, which is a collection of the Burroughs essays for the North American Review. Jeremy provides an introduction to the book, as well as contextual summaries of each essay.
https://northamericanreview.org/john-burroughs-and-yosemite
I just found out that the North American Review blog will be posting my essay along with eight photographs from Yosemite, all about the great natural history writer John Burroughs and his visit to Yosemite. The North American Review is the oldest literary magazine in the United States, founded in 1815 in Boston. Thanks to Jeremy Schraffenberger, editor of the North American Review, for this great opportunity to share the beauty of Yosemite along with the story of Burroughs’s visit to that great location in 1909.
