The Common Reader

The new debut record by American Pirates of Bloomington, Indiana, “What a Friend,” artfully blends so many different kinds of folk music that it comes across as an anthology or a variety show, yet with kindred themes and a unifying sound. commonreader.wustl.edu/american-pirat…

I asked a friend which of two things she thought true: Are our lives narratives? Or are they many quick stories/events/incidents that pop up, one damn thing after another, which are tied together only by the meanings we assign? commonreader.wustl.edu/are-you-a-narr…

Saint Louis Art Museum’s Art in Bloom, now in its twentieth year, is the museum’s most popular event: a weekend centered on pairing specific works of art iwith flower arrangements that reimagine them. commonreader.wustl.edu/best-in-show-a…

Cartoons are one of my favorite things on Instagram, especially when they touch on humor, confusion, sadness, practical philosophy, and cultural critique. commonreader.wustl.edu/cartoonists-of…

URBAN FISHING AT CHRISTMAS Jefferson Lake is 14 feet at its deepest but holds Largemouth Bass, Channel Cats, Crappie, Carp, Topminnows, Golden Shiners, and Bluegill. Being a non-fisherman and non-city dweller, I was surprised by the variety. commonreader.wustl.edu/urban-fishing-…

CHRISTKINDLMARKET IN CHICAGO A HOLIDAY FAVORITE A drive from St. Louis this week through the windswept fields and windmill farms of Illinois was pleasant, as was the cinnamon-scented fellow at the front desk of a River North hotel in Chicago. commonreader.wustl.edu/christkindlmar…

IN SMALL-TOWN INDIANA, LAM RUNS A LOST AND FOUND FOR THE FORGOTTEN AMONG US If you have ever cared for an addict, you know the desperate feeling of no easy solutions. commonreader.wustl.edu/on-the-lam-in-…

ANATOMICAL SPECIMENS SHARE A SCONE Wanting answers, we create reductions: I am. She was. The administration will. commonreader.wustl.edu/anatomical-spe…

DEVOTION TO AUTHENTICITY I treasure memories of tomahawk-throwing at Fort de Chartres. It helped me set up my young mind to think of this part of the Midwest as perpetually colonial and the West as something for the future. commonreader.wustl.edu/devotion-to-au…

OF LIVING ALONE Of course, living alone has few rules—one of its upsides, usually—and nobody said you have to be that quiet. commonreader.wustl.edu/of-living-alon…

JOHN CANDY, LOST SON Candy’s friends and family appear, one by one, to testify to his overall good nature, sweetness, and easy laughter. Often, though, something pulls at these claims. commonreader.wustl.edu/john-candy-los…

LUCKY PRESCIENCE IN ‘ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER’ Paul Thomas Anderson’s films always have dark humor, but I have to think he may have felt a greater need to signal satire back then, which plays a little unevenly now. commonreader.wustl.edu/lucky-prescien…

FOUND OBJECTS: MYSELF I looked and looked. It was like looking at another part of myself. commonreader.wustl.edu/found-objects-…

TIPTOEING AROUND OUR STORIES In the best of times it is impossible to know other people fully. Even if we wish to act in good faith, it is hard to express to others who we think we are—and we may not know who we are. commonreader.wustl.edu/tiptoeing-arou…

UPDATE FROM THE SHAWNEE NATIONAL FOREST The current administration recently put 59 million acres of national forestland at greater risk in an opening salvo of a commodity-mindset war against the environment.commonreader.wustl.edu/update-from-th…

BILLY JOEL DOC LIKE A GOOD NOVEL One of the reasons I like the term “novelistic” for these sorts of documentaries is that it stresses how they deal in the mysteries of creation, its meaning, and its emotion. commonreader.wustl.edu/billy-joel-doc…

A REAL KNOWHERE MAN, PART TWO I was used to my makeup and costume, but the one-inch heels, painful toes, and tight uppers of my tanker boots made me walk suspiciously, like a poor guy with a belly full of free eggs and a heart filled with larceny. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/a-real-knowh…

RECIPES FOR RASCALS IN MICHIGAN Roasting different vegetables on a shared baking sheet, for example, requires some sensitivity and planning. How dense, how hydrated, how sweet, how easily burned is each one? commonreader.wustl.edu/recipes-for-ra…

OF AMERICAN FROGS AND PIRATES The handlers of the competing frogs were not seasoned adults with complex strategies for teaching a frog to jump from a dead sit upon a prompt. The frog handlers were children. commonreader.wustl.edu/of-american-fr…

A REAL KNOWHERE MAN No one had explained what extras could do (choose their own movements to some extent) or could not do (complain or speak to the big names). No one ever said not to look into a camera lens or try to steal a scene. commonreader.wustl.edu/c/a-real-nowhe…