DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD
What Can You Say About Lewis and Clark in 30 Minutes?
Monday, March 09 2026
Oh my, it would be infinitely easier for me to give a three-hour lecture than one of just half an hour.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Encounters With Those Inescapable AI Generated “10 Best Lists”
Monday, February 23 2026
Can Artificial Intelligence reliably rank the 10 greatest poems of all time?
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Downsizing Pays off Big — With a Trip Down Abbey Road
Tuesday, February 10 2026
I don’t know exactly what I expected from my personal downsizing campaign, but something really interesting is happening to me.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reading Thoreau Again
Tuesday, February 03 2026
One of my friends contacted me not long ago and said, “Hey, you’re going to be in the Ken Burns documentary on Henry David Thoreau in March. I just saw you in the trailer. Are you going to do anything to be ready for when it comes out?” Truth told, I knew there was a Thoreau documentary coming sometime in 2026, but I wasn’t sure when.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
When is Enough Enough?
Tuesday, January 27 2026
Do Jefferson's 27 indictments of King George III and the Parliament of Great Britain in his Declaration of Independence have application today?
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Great Downsizing Campaign
Tuesday, December 30 2025
“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” — Thoreau
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Remembering My Beloved Oxford University Mentor
Tuesday, December 23 2025
Clay remembers an early and influential mentor, Professor John Carey of Oxford University.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Best Laid Plans (er, Bags) of Mice and Men
Tuesday, December 09 2025
Clay laments a rare failing in German baggage-transfer efficiency and plans a few interim wardrobe additions — while awaiting his bag’s return — and sticks close to his flat lest he miss the improbable delivery window.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Most Famous Painting in the World
Tuesday, December 09 2025
On a recent trip to Rome Clay contemplates art in its many forms and why the Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world. There are so many instantly recognizable paintings yet none of them is as widely recognized or parodied as the Mona Lisa.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Are We Rome?
Tuesday, December 02 2025
Answer: we are Rome … but are we doomed to suffer the Republic's fate? Clay parallels the Republics (Rome's and our own) considering ways to avoid Rome's calamitous end.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road