Fict: Katherine Dolan's blog

Fict: Katherine Dolan's blog

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Eileen Jones’s Cinematic Life

Few film critics writing today are as educated, prolific, or funny as Dr. Eileen Jones. A co-host with Dr. Dolores McElroy of the weekly podcast Filmsuck and the author of hundreds of articles about film and TV, notably for the left-wing periodical Jacobin, she is the film critic par excellence of the “age of crap cinema”. One of the most...

Teaching the Kuwaiti Officer Corps

Candid classroom conversations with students on an undisclosed army base in Kuwait.     Crazy Khalid   “Guys! Listen! Hey!” Ten minutes into English class and the talking (in...

Child’s Play in Kuwait

When we lived in Kuwait, I taught in the mornings but my afternoons were free. Since there are limited amusements in that dust-bath of...

Riddles and Roods in Vercelli

I saw four fair creatures travelling together. Dark were their tracks,  the path very black. Swift was their motion,  faster than fowl they flew through the air,  dove...

The Joanna-of-Naples Cure

I don’t know about you but reading about antique hardships really warms my heart. It’s not Schadenfreude exactly; the pleasure comes not from the...

Lonely Planet Guide to Eternity, on Foot

Our Life's Journey   Halfway along the journey of our life  I woke to find myself in a dark wood, For I had wandered from the straight path.   The...

This is Your Virtual Sicilian Feast

A couple of friends have requested more detail re. Sicilian dinners. Although I’ve had a few bad meals here— leathery pizza, vomitous ham-and-pea lasagne,...

Keeping Papyrus Green

One of the oldest Egyptian hieroglyphs is the papyrus stem wadj , indicating ‘green’, ‘growth’ and ‘youth’. Papyrus groves symbolized fertility and life itself in...