Woody Guthrie’s  first book, the autobiographical Bound for Glory, was originally published in 1943. Like any hot-blooded writer, …

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On October 3, Britain’s IT1 network aired a documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, in which …

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Even before she rose from the dead, Karen Dalton always sounded like a ghost. Her voice was an unearthly coo, …

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Woody Guthrie wrote songs, poems, essays, newspaper columns, letters, diaries, you name it. Writing was a compulsion for him. His …

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I want you to pay a lot more attention to all my words longer and deeper and quieter and louder …

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Methodist church basement, northwest Oklahoma City, 1987. Yes, there is wood paneling. Yes, the carpet is shag, a rich cobalt blue. Yes, a threadbare pool table, a stereo with illuminated VU meters, two speaker cabinets taller than I am at age 16. About half a dozen of us have shown up this evening. I attend church youth group for two reasons. One, that look on my parents’ face when I say, “I’m going to church”—I can dash out with that line and come home late. Two, Sondra might be there. I’ve been enduring youth group since I got my learner’s permit because sometimes I get to drive her home. Tonight she’s here and wearing that shimmery, fuzzy, opal-colored sweater, and tonight the group is going to talk about God and pop music, the spirit and the flesh, love and lust—and I’m supposed to figure out which is which.

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Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. - Isaiah 58: …

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The Windy City nickname, you’ve probably heard by now, has nothing to do with that end-of-the-world gale screaming off the lake tonight. God-a-mighty, make no mistake, it’s a bear.

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