One summer’s day when I was nine or ten I walked into the children’s book room of the small public library in my small midwestern town. The children’s room was in the oldest part …| Pathetic Fallacy
When, as a kid, I learned the word raconteur, I thought that the role wasn’t simply a matter of one being good with stories; I thought it was a career one could have, and even be paid for. I’m not sure why I came to this conclusion, or who I thought would be writing the … Continue reading "Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale"| Pathetic Fallacy
Getting a psychiatric diagnosis affects everyone differently. For many, it’s a catharsis, a key to self-discovery and self-acceptance. For others, it can be a troubling albatross, a confirmat…| Pathetic Fallacy
Strangely enough for a podcaster whose whole deal is revisiting high school assigned reading, very little of the plot of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) sticks in my memory. I k…| Pathetic Fallacy
In spite of being a tiny town surrounded by endless fields of corn and soybeans, Eureka, Illinois used to have a small movie theater, the Woodford, whose Art Deco stylings dated to 1937. It had onc…| Pathetic Fallacy
We all have favorite books that we re-read compulsively when we’re sick; or favorite movies which we can’t help but watch again while channel surfing, even though we own the five-disc c…| Pathetic Fallacy
When I was a kid the second-most fascinating book on my parents’ shelves was the small pamphlet whose prosaic title was “Revised U.S. Edition of the Official Royal Canadian Air Force E…| Pathetic Fallacy
1 post published by John McCoy during September 2025| Pathetic Fallacy
From 1974 until 1977, when I was between six and nine years old, my dad was the minister at Youngstown, Ohio’s First Christian Church. This was a position which came with some strange perks: …| Pathetic Fallacy
Boston is a great place for cemeteries. If you visit our fair city as a tourist and walk the Freedom Trail, which is the red-brick line that connects downtown Boston’s and Charlestown’s…| Pathetic Fallacy
Another Blog You're Not Reading.| Pathetic Fallacy
Header image: S.O. Grimes general store, Westminster, Md., c. 1900. Image via Library of Congress. Another day, another shot fired in the culture wars: this time, the internet is losing its collect…| Pathetic Fallacy
