DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD

About 40 boxes of books culled from Clay’s massive personal library sit ready to be taken to their new home.

The Great Downsizing Campaign

“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
Tagged under: , ,
John Carey, an early and influential mentor of Clay’s, and Merton Professor of English at Oxford University.

Remembering My Beloved Oxford University Mentor

Clay remembers an early and influential mentor, Professor John Carey of Oxford University.
Tagged under: ,
Image of a man at an empty baggage claim

The Best Laid Plans (er, Bags) of Mice and Men

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.
Tagged under: , ,
Mona Lisa

The Most Famous Painting in the World

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.
Tagged under: , ,

Are We Rome?

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.
Tagged under: , , , ,
Ken Burns

Jefferson and Slavery: Ken Burns on MS-NOW

Clay considers Ken Burns' recent portrayal of Thomas Jefferson in a recent interview, where Burns suggests the Declaration's "all men are created equal" applied only to propertied white males, urging a more nuanced look at Jefferson's universal ideals, racial suspicions, and his own contradictions as a slaveholder.
Tagged under: , ,
American flag at half-mast.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Seeing flags at half-mast last week brought to mind the immortal passage from the great poet and scholar John Donne.
Tagged under: ,
Oxford University Graduation program.

There Will Always Be an England (I Hope)

Clay traveled to England last week to attend his daughter’s graduation ceremony, where she received her PhD from Oxford University. Oxford University Graduation program. I had the joy yesterday, Friday, November 7, 2025, of seeing my beloved daughter take her degree at the seventeenth-century Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.…
Tagged under:

The Latest in My Great 2025 Downsizing Campaign

Friends have encouraged me to downsize for well more than a decade. I’m making progress!
Tagged under: ,
Natalia (Nat) and Michael (Mikey), two British school teachers, are currently on holiday in the US. They are canoeing over 3000 miles from Three Forks, Montana, down the Mississippi to New Orleans.

UPDATE: Two Brits and a Wee Paddle From Montana to New Orleans

Featured on our podcast last week, LTA followers have asked for an update in the saga of Nat and Mikey, a couple of Brits currently paddling from Montana to New Orleans.
Tagged under: , ,