Before I commence lauding Ted Kooser’s collection of poetry, Valentines, out this month from UNP, let me begin by confessing that my credentials for reviewing poetry are suspect. My education in poetry is as haphazard as the patchwork anthology I have on my bookshelf—a few full collections here and there, plus a notebook of Xeroxed and hand-copied poems given to me from friends of their favorite selections from Lisel Mueller or Vladimir Mayakovsky, James Wright or Billy Collins. It’s a big mixed-tape kind of compilation that I can pull out whenever I’m in need of some poetic therapy. Here’s what … Continue reading “A Few Words of Love for Ted Kooser’s Valentines” by Kate Flaherty

"Tune in to Ted" Can’t get enough of Ted Kooser and his newest poetry collection, Valentines? Check out this link to a recent radio interview with the former U.S. poet laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry on South Dakota Public Radio’s "Food for Thought." http://www.sdpb.org/archives/ProgramDetail.asp?ProgID=6880 Happy listening! Continue reading Kooser Radio

Ah, the first day of February. With it brings the promise of spring (I know, I know…it’s a few months away, but still), the joys of Valentine’s Day (see yesterday’s “Linking in Lincoln” post), and an entirely new month of UNP blog postings for your what-remains-of-wintertime enjoyment. It’s not quite ride-your-bike-in-shorts-and-a-tank-top-while-enjoying-a-snowcone-weather, so let’s stay inside where it’s warm and settle in for another posting on… This Week in History January 27, 1901: Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died at age 87 in Milan, Italy.Would you prefer an evening at the opera to a night at the movies? Rather take in a … Continue reading This Week in History: January 27th-February 1st

Links to Help You "Feel the Love"…or Not Well, it’s getting to be that time again. Christmas has come and gone and taken our money with it, and New Year’s resolutions have found their way back into the deep recesses of our minds. Perhaps you’re looking for your next holiday fix. If that is the case, then it’s time to once again indulge in the emotional cataclysm that we fondly refer to as Valentine’s Day. Don’t have a Valentine this year? No problem! Let UNP be your date! And in lieu of gushing profession-of-love cards, long-stemmed roses, and chocolate candies, … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: January 31, 2008

Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball by Norman L. Macht “[T]he tale Macht offers is often riveting.”—Library Journal “[I]ncludes . . . many fascinating details of baseball from the 1880s to 1914.”—Boston Globe Read earlier praise for Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball at http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/07/praise-for-conn.html. Continue reading More Praise for Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball

A Trivial Trip to Mexico City In light of the recent publication of The Imagined Underworld: Sex, Crime, and Vice in Porfirian Mexico City by James Alex Garza, we’ve crafted today’s TT question set to test your knowledge of the unambiguously named Mexico City. Never been? Have no fear. You don’t have to be a frequent visitor to this capital city to fare well on this quiz. You just have to be un poco inteligente. However, if you have no idea what “inteligente” could mean, you might want to study up and try this quiz again another day. Now, on … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: January 29, 2008

Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball by Norman L. Macht “Maybe never in baseball history has one man labored for so long with such ultimate success. Norman Macht has brought us the true Connie Mack, and has done so in a most readable and informative style. How can you not love a book that begins, ‘The Irish had a bad year in 1846, finishing last in the international league. For the third straight year, the potato crop had failed like a staff of sore-armed pitchers.’? We should all spend the next 22 years turning out a triumph such … Continue reading More Praise for Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball