John Kelin's Blog

• Mr. Holland's Opus

  February 17, 2008

  • The Wall Street Journal noticed me not long ago. My book was one of five described in a Journal overview of new titles that "help untangle the mysterious popularity of conspiracy theories." The only bad publicity, they say, is no publicity, and I suppose there is some truth to that. There was an unmistakable jump in sales right after the WSJ item appeared. But the article, written by ...
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• Flagburning: A Confrontation

  January 18, 2008

  • My favorite cycling socks are those of the Soviet Olympic Cycling team. I’ve got a pair: they are blood red, with a bold yellow hammer and sickle on each side. All these years after the fall of the Soviet Union, this once-powerful symbol no longer provokes the response it used to. In fact, I have worn these Commie bike socks and actually had people—educated adults, mind you—ask me what, if ...
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• Play With Them

  January 11, 2008

  • When summer finally ended, so did the frequency of our games. The game is wiffle ball and we play it in the street, the neighborhood kids and me. Usually we start after dinner and often go until it is past dark, so dark we cannot see the ball to hit or catch. Yet the games are seldom called on account of darkness. Rather some kid’s mom or dad calls him in. Sometimes my wife calls me in.One of ...
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