Tuscan Histories: The Etruscans
Why go to Tuscany in the Winter, when you can go to Sicily, Crete, or Costa Rica? Everyone has read or seen Under the Tuscan Sun, but who wants to endure “Under the Tuscan Wind, Rain, and Flooding?”
Category: Fleming
Escape to Pisa, II: Mistakes, Corrections, and a bit of History
As an informal and sometimes formal travel advisor, I am forever reminding–my wife calls it bullying people–to double check everything, including passports, visas (if necessary), ticket times and dates.
Westerns Episode 16: The Last Samurai (2003)
Dr. Fleming comments on the (thankfully) only Tom Cruise film in our series, though his thoughts on it as a whole may surprise you. Homework for the next episode in the series is Sicario.
Dr. Fleming Reads the Funny Papers
Too busy to find out what’s in the news. Find out everything you need to know in this five minute podcast.
Escape to Pisa, I: Getting Ready
have been traveling and taking small groups to Europe for 25 years, and, mistake by painful mistake, I have learned a few practical lessons on how and what to pack, how to plan itineraries and pick hotels, how to choose restaurants and have an enjoyable experience, how to allocate your time.
Messages Received
Ken Rosenburger has sent me the unhappy news that Fred Chappell has died at the age of 87.
Journalists and Other Liars, II
The dishonesty of journalists is not only a modern, much less postmodern phenomenon. From the days of Daniel Defoe, spy, propagandist, journalist, British (and later American) journalists have been a breed distinguished by their low character and inveterate dishonesty.
Jeremy Rides Again
My friend Jeremy Chiaroscuro, political consultant, has changed his mind. He has been saying that nothing could keep him from voting for any Republican presidential candidate against Biden or Harris…..
Journalists and Other Liars, Part I
Why do journalists lie? I do not ask this question as a joke with a punchline waiting in the wings or even as an illustration of mankind’s general propensity to lie, cheat, and steal. My question is intended to go to the heart of what journalism is, fundamentally: a “profession” in which men and women, without any particular skills or qualifications, spend their time at work making and repeating statements that they either know are untrue or, if they are so obtuse as not to know they are telling lies, they should be required to keep silent.
The Latin of the Latin Mass: Conclusion
The Holy Mass, as I have been trying to make clear, is one of the greatest and most carefully composed artistic constructions in the history of human civilization. However, the object of this great art is not entertainment or even instruction, but the praise of God and the salvation of the participants.
