Opinion

"...Double-speak is the way; Orwell's prophecy comes true..."

"...the way it's always been."

What lies on the other side of this existence we call "Life?" Will it be fun? Will it last forever? Does Cousin Dandruff have to be there?

Hmmm, more questionable choices by people around the world...

Holiday week and the shopping's done -- how about some popcorn?

It's back to the movies for more Marvel mayhem!

Charlotte "Muddy" Rewis is getting up there in years, and knows how precious memory -- and life -- are. Her own memories seem more real to her than the world around her in Niles Reddick's book "Drifting Too Far from the Shore."

So why is it if a husband and wife have identically sized feet, no two pairs of shoes in their closet are the same size? Because a size eight sneaker by any other name...

You love writing, but can you afford the time, the stress, and the money to go to school to pursue it? Gabriela Pereira tackles this question and strategies for writers in "DIY MFA."

Nursery rhymes in the hands of new parents can be horrible weapons of brain cell destruction. Truly it is Nature's plan that little critters aren't born able to understand what their parents are singing.

Bernie and Sand finally return to the theater, just to go to Mars.

If you can really write well, don't you want to...

It's not easy becoming one, and there are a couple of quirks involved in being one, but they do exist.

When it comes to carpentry, there's nothing Dan doesn't know about turning something into a repair project.

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this review if you have not seen the movie...but do not spend money on this movie until you do read the review.

Just the thing for light-hearted summer vacation: Ants!

Margaret Atwood once again demonstrates her ability to create memorable characters and weave a story which enthralls in her novel, "Alias Grace," about the conviction of murderess Grace Marks in 1843.

Truman Capote's first novel, "Other Voices, Other Rooms," is an intense and supernatural exploration into the mind of a young boy sent to live with a father he has never before met.

After seeing some incredibly high ratings for the film, Sand and Bernie take to the theater to see "Inside Out."

Carol Birch brings to life the glory, pain, and terror found on the whaling ships in the late nineteenth century in her novel, "Jamrach's Menagerie."

Susan Nussbaum's novel, "Good Kings Bad Kings" gives voice to people who live and work in an institution for teens with disabilities.

Ahh, summer blockbusters! Nothing says popcorn and a movie like temperatures in the hundreds, so Bernie and Sand toddle off to air conditioning and deja vu...

"In Wilderness," by Diane Thomas, is a psychological thriller about obsession, desire, and the healing powers of nature.

"Making Toast" is Roger Rosenblatt's memoir of the weeks and months following his daughter's unexpected death, the grief, and the the depth of love for family.

"The Master Butchers Singing Club," by Louise Erdrich, follows a German immigrant into North Dakota -- a book written with poignancy and humor, meticulous detail and vivid imagery.

Paula Hawkins is adept at developing her characters and keeping the reader guessing in her psychological thriller "The Girl on the Train."

There is more than one way to skin a cat. Or kill a spider. Or shoot a fish. Some of them involve aerosol flammables and dressing up like your favorite comic book character. It's just better for the environment.

Bernie and Sand go the same showing at the theater and see two entirely different films...

The impact of national policy on education for aboriginal peoples.

Tina Egnoski's award winning novella, "In the Time of the Feast of Flowers," is a sensitive coming-of-age story about growing up during the progressive years of the 1970s.