This week on StoryWeb: Chad Everett’s TV show, Medical Center. If only I could start with the theme song to Medical Center! If I were telling you this story in person, I’d risk humming a few bars, complete with an ambulance-like scream of notes

173: Cynthia Morris: "Chasing Sylvia Beach"

Mar 12th, 2018 12m 24s

This week on StoryWeb: Cynthia Morris’s novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach. What do you get when you combine time travel, intriguing literary history, Paris, and romance? Why, Cynthia Morris’s novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach, of course! I know Cynthia fro

172: James H. Cone: "Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare"

Feb 25th, 2018 7m 50s

This week on StoryWeb: James H. Cone’s book Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. It has been more than 25 years since I read Rev. James H. Cone’s book Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. I was teaching an English

171: Malcolm X and Alex Haley: "The Autobiography of Malcolm X"

Feb 11th, 2018 8m 6s

This week on StoryWeb: Malcolm X and Alex Haley’s book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Malcolm X wrote his famed autobiography in collaboration with African American journalist Alex Haley (most famous for his epic book Roots: The Saga of an Am

170: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Feb 4th, 2018 12m 45s

This week on StoryWeb: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In April 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Birmingham, Alabama, protesting racism and racial segregation in the city. He was arrested on Good Frid

169: Susan Glaspell: "Trifles"

Jan 30th, 2018 1h 5m

This week on StoryWeb, Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles. Born in 1876, Susan Glaspell was a prominent novelist, short story writer, journalist, biographer, actress, and, most notably, playwright, winning the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her p

168: Elizabeth Strout: "Olive Kitteridge"

Jan 21st, 2018 7m

This week on StoryWeb: Elizabeth Strout’s book Olive Kitteridge. Has there ever been a grimmer, more taciturn main character in a book than Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge? We’ve all known someone like Olive, someone who looks like she’s ju

167: Emily Dickinson: Poem 372, "After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes"

Jan 7th, 2018 7m 47s

This week on StoryWeb: Emily Dickinson’s Poem 372, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes –” For Patricia and our students Emily Dickinson’s Poem 372 is not – technically speaking – a story. And Dickinson is not a storyteller per se. But her

166: James Joyce: "The Dead"

Dec 31st, 2017 23m 4s

This week on StoryWeb: James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.” James Joyce’s “The Dead” is widely considered to be his best short story, called by the New York Times “just about the finest short story in the English language" and by T.S. Eliot as

165: Richard Thompson: "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"

Dec 24th, 2017 9m 6s

This week on StoryWeb: Richard Thompson’s song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” For Jim, in honor of his birthday My husband, Jim, and I love this song by Richard Thompson and its signature line, “red hair and black leather, my favorite color sc

164: Robert Frost: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Dec 17th, 2017 9m 18s

This week on StoryWeb: Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” In honor of the winter solstice Without a doubt, the most famous poem about winter is Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” In fact, Garrison Ke

163: Rick Nelson: "Garden Party"

Dec 10th, 2017 6m 55s

This week on StoryWeb: Rick Nelson’s song “Garden Party.” For Julia, in honor of her birthday In 1972, my two-year-old sister could sing all the words to this Rick Nelson hit. Why she latched on to this particular song when it came on the car r

162: The Coen Brothers: "Fargo"

Dec 3rd, 2017 7m 49s

This week on Story Web: the Coen Brothers’ film Fargo. I suppose I must have a dark sense of humor indeed to think of the Coen Brothers’ film Fargo as a comedy – even if I do realize that it is a dark comedy. I mean, what can you say about some

161: Theodore Roethke: "My Papa's Waltz"

Nov 26th, 2017 7m 26s

This week on StoryWeb: Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” A story contained in sixteen short lines of poetry – that is Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz.” This autobiographical poem tells of a little boy dancing with his drunk father

160: Lydia Maria Child: "Over the River and Through the Web"

Nov 19th, 2017 8m 9s

Lydia Maria Child: “Over the River and Through the Wood” In the 19th century, Lydia Maria Child’s name was nearly a household word. An outspoken abolitionist, women’s rights supporter, and crusader for Native American rights, Child was also a p

159: Lee Smith: "Dimestore"

Nov 12th, 2017 6m 35s

This week on StoryWeb: Lee Smith’s memoir, Dimestore: A Writer’s Life. I first fell in love with Lee Smith’s fiction nearly thirty years ago when I was a cook at Le Conte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On my afternoons off, I

158: Jill Ker Conway: "The Road from Coorain"

Nov 5th, 2017 5m 33s

This week on StoryWeb: Jill Ker Conway’s memoir The Road from Coorain. The Road from Coorain traces the unlikely story of young Jill Ker’s journey from a sheep station in the western grasslands of New South Wales, Australia, to the position of

157: Edgar Allan Poe: "The Raven"

Oct 29th, 2017 15m 25s

This week on StoryWeb: Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” For this spooky Halloween edition of StoryWeb, I’m featuring Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” Everyone knows this haunting poem – but less well known is Poe’s essay “The Philosophy of Com

156: Frida Kahlo: "The Two Fridas"

Oct 22nd, 2017 11m 36s

This week on StoryWeb: Frida Kahlo’s painting The Two Fridas. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is known for her stunning self-portraits. You might not think of her immediately as a painter who tells stories through her art. Indeed, you could be forg

155: The Partridge Family: "I Think I Love You"

Oct 15th, 2017 6m 41s

This week on StoryWeb: The Partridge Family’s song “I Think I Love You.” Fifth grade – and the song I can’t get out of my head is “I Think I Love You.” Every girl at Griffith Elementary School – make it every girl at schools around the United S

154: Geoffrey Chaucer: "The Canterbury Tales"

Oct 8th, 2017 7m 11s

This week on StoryWeb: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Whan that aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour. . . . Oh, h

153: Dolly Parton: "Coat of Many Colors"

Oct 1st, 2017 11m 9s

This week on StoryWeb: Dolly Parton’s song “Coat of Many Colors.” Call it maudlin or sentimental, but Dolly Parton’s song “Coat of Many Colors” is undeniably an American classic, so much so that it was adapted to a made-for-television movie in

152: Alex Haley: "Roots"

Sep 24th, 2017 10m 7s

This week on StoryWeb: Alex Haley’s book Roots. In January 1977 when I was sixteen, I joined 130 million Americans to watch the television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. It was broadcast eight conse

151: Elizabeth Bishop: "In the Waiting Room"

Sep 17th, 2017 8m 36s

This week on StoryWeb: Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “In the Waiting Room.” I’ve featured Elizabeth Bishop previously on StoryWeb. “The Moose” – set in Bishop’s home province of Nova Scotia – is one of my favorite poems, as it tells so powerfully the

150: Oscar Wilde: "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Sep 10th, 2017 7m 30s

This week on StoryWeb: Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. Really, has there ever been a play funnier than Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest? No matter how you experience it – by reading the play, seeing it perfo