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Book Report: Moby-Dick
Some books have reputations that precede them. The reputation may be for genius, for popularity, for challenging readers, for polarization, for profundity, or for sheer heft. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick checks all of those boxes. Moby-Dick used to be a staple of American high school English curricula. (It might still be, but given the trajectory of Continue reading
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Classics Every Day
In a previous post, I talked about classic literature, and how I experience mild pangs of regret over not appreciating the great works that were assigned to me back in high school. Since then, I gathered something of a classics starter collection and spent the month of January working my way through some of it. Continue reading
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Classics
I am not one to wallow in regret. There aren’t many things that I’ve done or failed to do over the years that cause me to look back and want to kick myself. That said, there is one category of experience that does cause me to get annoyed with my past self: whenever, in retrospect, Continue reading
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New Year’s Hike
I started 2024 off with a hike at Beaver Lake Nature Center. I can’t say it’s a full-blown tradition, but it’s something I’ve done on a few past New Year’s Days and will continue in the future as weather permits. A nature hike seems as good a way as any to celebrate the new year, Continue reading
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Year-End Wind-Down
There is a period in the Central New York seasonal cycle between when the last of the fall foliage drops from the trees and when the first serious snow accumulation arrives. It’s a time of dreary landscapes filled with bare tree limbs silhouetted against drab skies, dampened by cold drizzle and fog. Generally, that is Continue reading
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Black Hat
Black hats are tricky. They come with a whole host of associations and connotations, ranging from several religious groups to western outlaws to any number of pop-culture villains and antiheroes. Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark wore a black hat, as did Walter White, The Shadow, Waylon Jennings, and Lee Van Cleef, to name Continue reading
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Antiquing With the Chief Executives
These past few weekends, the Missus and I have been on a little antiquing spree. I never gave a lot of thought to antique shops when I was younger but have started enjoying them more now that I arguably belong in one. (Just as an aside, one of the many ways that I’m reminded of Continue reading
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The Ideal State
When illusion spin her netI’m never where I want to be – Peter Gabriel One of the marketing courses I have taught over the years is Consumer Behavior — an overview of the psychological and social factors that influence how and why we buy. In that course, we talk about how everything starts with the Continue reading
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Time Passages
One of the many odd byproducts of moving back to my hometown to raise a family was that my kids attended the same elementary school and the same high school that I did. When I would go to those buildings as a parent for open-houses, parent-teacher conferences, or performances, some ghosts of the past would Continue reading
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Cahill Pier
In recent years, the City of Oswego has been redeveloping areas along its waterfront as part of a broader urban renewal initiative. So far, the results have been impressive and have really added value to the city’s greatest natural asset. The latest project in this effort is the William S. Cahill Pier, a waterfront park Continue reading
About Me
Researcher. Marketer. Teacher. Father of adult children and dogs. 20th Century holdover. Central New York native. Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan. History nerd. Traveler. Vintage advertising enthusiast. Hat wearer.
a.k.a. V.J. 