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I’ve read many fine coming-of-age novels in my time, but never one about a 62-year-old protagonist. Yet, in Under the Wave at Waimea, that is exactly what Paul Theroux delivers. And it’s a thing of beauty. Joe Sharkey is a champion big wave surfer in Hawaii. Past his prime but still a hero to younger…
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It’s hot as hell in Gainesville, as one would expect of Florida in July. But I mean, it’s really, really hot as hell. All over the country, people are feeling the effects of the climate change. Even the most hard-core deniers (some of which are people in my own extended family, whom I love) are…
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It’s a well known fact of life that the older you get, the more you find yourself drawn to old things. This has always been true for me. I find myself particularly entertained by the classic pop culture of the twentieth century. A few years ago, for instance, I was working my way through the…
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The great actor and comic genius Alan Arkin has left us. I loved him ever since I saw 1979’s The In-Laws, which is surely one of the best comedies of the 20th Century. Arkin plays Sheldon Kornpett, a straight-laced Manhattan dentist who finds himself caught up in an adventure with his soon to be in-law,…
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Wednesday night I went to the movies for the first time in three years. I saw Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, and I’m still trying to process it. It’s kind of like what might happen if David Lynch and Tim Burton teamed up to make a Pixar movie. It’s certainly very good, and very powerful, but…
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When I was in my twenties, I read Roger Penrose’s The Emperor’s New Mind and was blown away by it. That is, in the 5% or so that I could understand, I was blown away. Never have I read a science book that, paradoxically, filled me with hope and optimism. And awe. The book is…
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With all the innumerable recent scandals that have erupted over the last decade or so, I find myself wondering when, exactly, did the term “fixer” enter the national lexicon? Recently, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was referred to as a “fixer” by the national press. Similarly, the popular TV show Ray Donovan is about…
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It’s June 17 here in Gainesville, and the reality of another Florida summer is starting to sink in. We’ve been having a lot of rain, which makes this time of year tolerable—until the sun comes out and the humidity seems to wrap around your face like a barber’s steam rag. Oh, well. I just need…
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One night when I was walking the streets of New York City, a young panhandler confronted me and demanded five dollars. “For what?” I asked. “I’ll sing Stevie Wonder.” I gave him two bucks, and he immediately delivered a surprisingly good rendition of “Superstiton.” When he was finished, he looked at me and said, “What’dya…
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Novice writers sometimes ask about the difference between “literary” fiction and “commercial” fiction, and so-called learned people often answer something like this: “Commercial fiction is about plot; literary fiction is about character.” But what any real student of literary fiction knows is that all novels—all good novels, at least—have a plot. That is, they have…
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Ash Clifton, Writer 