Andrew ShieldsSnoopy and the heat wave. #111Words #Snoopy #HeatWave #Typewriter #Tram https://111-words.ghost.io/snoopy-and-the-heat-wave/
“Here Comes the Sun”, “A Day in the Life”, and “the real boom”. #111Words #Son #TheBeatles #HereComesTheSun #AbbeyRoad #ADayInTheLife #SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand #Boom #Orchestra #Crescendo #Music https://111-words.ghost.io/here-comes-the-sun-a-day-in-the-life-and-the-real-boom/
“Here Comes the Sun”, “A Day in the Life”, and “the real boom"
On a cloudy day when my son Miles was about three, the sun came out on our way home from the park, and I sand "Here Comes The Sun". When we got home, I played "Abbey Road" for him, the album that begins with that song—and he began to
“Describing his fantasy world”: Heather Cox Richardson, Donald Trump, and my “Don Q” #111Words #HeatherCoxRichardson #DonaldTrump #DonQ https://111-words.ghost.io/describing-his-fantasy-world-heather-cox-richardson-donald-trump-and-my-don-q/
“Describing his fantasy world”: Heather Cox Richardson, Donald Trump, and my “Don Q”
In her Letter from an American for 20 June 2026, Heather Cox Richardson writes of United States President Donald Trump that he "has become accustomed to simply describing his fantasy world and expecting that others will agree they see it." When I read that, I thought it was nice to
1000 concerts (but probably more) between 1978 and 2026. #111Words #Concerts #LiveMusic #LindaRonstadt #LivingstonTaylor #JorgeRossy #KevinHays #Music https://111-words.ghost.io/1000-concerts-but-probably-more-between-1978-and-2026/
1000 concerts (but probably more) between 1978 and 2026
On 11 August 1978, I had the first live-music experience that I remember, a double bill of Linda Ronstadt and Livingston Taylor. Between memories, online setlist sites, photographs, social-media posts, and a careful record since September 2019, I've been able to put together a long list of
7,253 days with children in school. #111Words #Children #School #Graduation https://111-words.ghost.io/7-253-days-with-children-in-school/
7,253 days with children in school
On 10 August 2006, our son Miles began first grade. On 9 August 2010, our daughter Luisa began first grade. On 12 August 2013, our daughter Sara began first grade. Miles graduated from high school in June 2018; Luisa, after two years off near the end, graduated from high school
A big round of poems submitted to magazines. #111Words #Poetry #Submissions #Magazines #Poems #Poet https://111-words.ghost.io/a-big-round-of-poems-submitted-to-magazines/
A big round of poems submitted to magazines
Today, I decided it was finally time to submit some poems to magazines again. First, I went through recent poems I had written; as always, I had the sense that I had written almost none, but then there turned out to be seven. Then I began putting submissions together, one
Albums from the 1980s that were central to me as I began to discover jazz. #111Words #Jazz #Music #1980s #KZSU #Albums #DavidMurray #RalphTowner #JohnAbercrombie #JanGarbarek #JackDeJohnette #WorldSaxophoneQuartet #Oregon #MarcJohnson #JohnScofield #PatMetheny #OrnetteColeman #GilEvans #SteveLacy https://111-words.ghost.io/albums-from-the-1980s-that-were-central-to-me-as-i-began-to-discover-jazz/
Albums from the 1980s that were central to me as I began to discover jazz
After writing yesterday about my time as a jazz DJ at the Stanford student station KZSU in the mid-1980s, I began thinking of albums from that decade that were central to my first encounters with jazz: David Murray's "Murray's Steps" (1982), Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie's
Remembering my radio shows that went from Abdullah Ibrahim (1934-2026) to Sheila Jordan. #111Words #SheilaJordan #AbdullahIbrahim #CharlesMingus #DaveHolland #DavidMurray #PaulMOtian #Jazz #Music #Radio https://111-words.ghost.io/remembering-my-radio-shows-that-went-from-abdullah-ibrahim-1934-2026-to-sheila-jordan/
Remembering my radio shows that went from Abdullah Ibrahim (1934-2026) to Sheila Jordan
When jazz singer Sheila Jordan died last August, I wrote about "From the Mountain to the Crossing", my jazz radio show at KZSU Stanford in Winter Quarter 1986: Every show began with Abdullah Ibrahim's "The Mountain" and ended with Jordan's "The Crossing". With Ibrahim's death yesterday, I
Memorizing a poem in a linguistics class (Denise Levertov’s “To the Reader”). #111Words #DeniseLevertov #ToTheReader #Linguistics #Literature #MelissaMonroe #CharlesBaudelaire #AuLecteur #Poetry #Poésie #HypocriteLecteur #Classroom #Memorization #MemorizingPoetry https://111-words.ghost.io/memorizing-a-poem-in-a-linguistics-class-denise-levertovs-to-the-reader/
Memorizing a poem in a linguistics class (Denise Levertov’s “To the Reader”)
The course was called "Linguistics and Literature"; the teacher was Melissa Monroe. One day, she wrote a poem on the board: "To the Reader", by Denise Levertov. Sitting in the back row of the small lecture hall, I was pleased to see my teacher's poem on the board. Rather
Finding Borges in Sarah Howe’s “An Error, A Ghost”. #111Words #SarahHowe #Foretokens #Poetry #JorgeLuisBorges #TheGardenOfForkingPaths #KafkaAndHisPrecursors #Fiction #Essay #Geneva #Death #Anniversary https://111-words.ghost.io/finding-borges-in-sarah-howes-an-error-a-ghost/
Finding Borges in Sarah Howe’s “An Error, A Ghost"
"An Error, A Ghost", the thirteen-page poem with twenty-three parts that concludes Sarah Howe's "Foretokens" (2025), begins with an epigraph from "The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941), by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), and later, in section seven, summarizes that story before concluding: "Elsewhere Borges says / every