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A Letter from San Juan
Puerto Rico is an island caught between two waves, one originating in Spain and radiating throughout the Americas, the other originating in the United States whose influence is out of place here yet established enough to be present beneath the surface. I was uncertain what I’d find here amid the palm trees and verdant greenery, Read more
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In Praise of my Favorite Latin Verb
I first started studying Latin when I was fourteen, a high school freshman at St. James Academy. Over the next four years I studied Latin with Bob Weinstein, then the St. James Latin teacher, and even took a year of Ancient Greek with him as well. In those years I got a good foundation in Read more
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St. David’s Day
As Irish as my name is, I’m still very much an American, and a central part of this country and its population is the fact that we are all a mix of different ethnicities and races. There are competing visions of American diversity. There’s the melting pot of assimilation which sees new immigrants enter the Read more
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Ash Wednesday
In past years when I’ve written columns and devotionals around this time of year recognizing the beginning of Lent, they’ve been on some levels joking (I once referred to this season as the past tense of to lend) while on others they’ve been overly serious and solemn. There’s certainly room for both angles. This year, Read more
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Author vs Writer
Recently I noticed when someone referred to a guy as “the author of x”, in my mind I thought about what it means that they were called “the author” and not “the writer.” This whole question came to me considering that in Irish, I’d introduce myself with “Is staraí agus scríbhneoir mé,” or rather “I’m a historian Read more
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“Casablanca” at 80
Listen to this week’s podcast for a conversation about Casablanca with Alex Brisson Few films have held our attention for as long as Casablanca, a romantic drama filmed at the height of the Second World War telling a story yearning for America to remember it’s passion and enter the fray against the forces of evil. The Read more
Wednesday Blog by Seán Thomas Kane 