daily post | The Gad About Town

Bring Back the ABCs, Part Two

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Mark Aldrich

There was no contest, so you can breathe easy. No contest, no winners, no competitors, no losers, no forfeitures. Almost a little over a month ago, in “Bring Back the ABCs,” the writer of this website discussed a writing form called an “abecedarian.” An abecedarian is a twenty-six word prose-poem, in which the first word begins with A and the twenty-sixth and final word begins with Z.

An example:

About Butch Cassidy Don English found good heightened information: Just knowing lies makes not one person quite really sated. Try under “Violence,” William Xavier. Yours, Zara

Pete Seeger, One Year Gone

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Mark Aldrich

In 1996, in my then-job of assistant editor at a weekly newspaper, I awarded myself the title of music reviewer for a single issue and attended a concert given at a local high school by Pete Seeger, who died one year ago today at age 94. (Our newspaper’s actual title-holder was only interested in rock concerts.) I wrote a review, knowing full well that a review is not what one writes regarding a Pete Seeger concert. An appreciation. A thank-you note. But not a mere review judging aesthetic merits.

It was a great concert, by the way.
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Petrichor

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Mark Aldrich

An article with the euphonious title, “Nature of argillaceous odour,” gave the world the not-as euphonious-sounding word, “petrichor.” In it, two researchers attempted to scientifically describe what it is we smell when we smell the world after a rain shower and to give it a name.

The two authors coined the word, “petrichor,” which I have been mispronouncing in my head since I first encountered it last week, when an article on the Huffington Post started making its social media rounds. It has a long “I,” so say it like this: “petra,” then “eye-core,” and not how I hear it in my head, with a short “i.”
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