reading

YA Kick

Like most readers, I have a stack of books on my To-Read list. There’s a literal stack of them on the floor of my office that I’ve been making my way through over the course of the year. Almost all of them are used books, picked up at estate sales, Half Price Books, and from Little Free Libraries. Over the summer, I inadvertently discovered that I was on a YA kick. While “Ya Kick” sounds…

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history pragmatic historian

History Is Embedded in Language

I just finished reading a novel by Alena Graedon called “The Word Exchange.” The basic plot is that technology, both in the form of handheld devices called “Memes” and a wearable called “Nautilus,” causes what is called a word flu, wherein people start substituting regular words with nonsense words. For some, the flu, which also causes other physical symptoms, is deadly, or it may cause a permanent “silencing” of individuals. Of course, corporate greed and…

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