The Clever Use of Plants in “The Good Place”
My new favorite TV show is The Good Place. Yes, I’m coming to it ridiculously late, but isn’t that the life of a busy mom? I’d read about it years ago and felt intrigued by the premise of a comedic afterlife scenario. While I love Ted Danson and Kristen Bell and especially William Jackson Harper (who our family knew well from The Electric Company reboot), I worried it would be too much about the sadness of the afterlife and not…
The Tense Theatre in The Witch Elm
The Witch Elm is an impressive novel. It’s a riotous exercise in prose and character and suspense whose ending literally left me breathless. But it has one flaw that has disappointed hardcore Tana French fans: a suspect as the narrator. I myself didn’t particularly mind but apparently most longtime fans did. They yearned for her usual complex detective protagonist while lighting up websites with irritated reviews. They were hoping for what they liked, a Dublin Murder Squad personality, and didn’t…
Plants Are Speaking Right Now, Probably in Your Backyard
Did you know plants make sounds? I didn’t up until a few years ago. The idea is fascinating, and surprisingly already proven in some scientific studies. For instance, at the University of Western Australia, researchers discovered corn plants created clicking sounds in their roots as they grew. Scientists found a similar phenomenon in pine trees coping with drought. The trees’ xylem tissue made snapping sounds when moving an air bubble. In 2017, the Yale School of Forestry produced a sound…
Might and Main Monday: Peering into Darkness
Hey everyone, today’s inspirational quote comes from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” If you don’t know it, you may want to check it out. It’s creepy and musical and lovely, about how a young man, who, one night while sitting by the fire, hears a raven tapping at his door. When he opens the door and the bird flies in, the bird haunts him, reminding him of his lost love, Lenore. Through the repetition of the word “Nevermore,” the…
