WHAT THE EYE HEARS: A HISTORY OF TAP DANCING

Brian Siebert

also available for Kindle and ebook.

Seibert has magnificently researched Tap;  starting with original steps brought in with Irish Jigs, African Drums, and Appalachian Clogging in very early American society, then through Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Charles Dicken's visit to the Five Pointes Dance Hall, and more. He wonderfully brings us through the minstrelsy, the jazz age, to Taps comeback with television, then movies and Broadway. Seibert leaves nothing out, making this a long book (624 pages). He includes some great photos throughout. the book is definitely an entertaining read while giving us, the readers, a remarkable view at a true piece of American history. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who dances, enjoys music, and wants to learn more.

****I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway from Farrar, Straus and Giroux in exchange for a fair review.****

Mary Jo Bang's "Elegy" is a collection of poems written on the occasion of her son's death. Individually, they are cries of grief and remembrance; together they become the singular Elegy of the title. 

This book is a devastating meditation on not only life and death, but motherhood, the inevitability of success and failure, guilt, disconnection, and loss. There is a great amount of love but not much redemption; the pain is very close. Yet, this is all done in such a lyrically beautiful manner that one does not feel like a voyeur or gawker. The reader comes just far enough in for the art's sake. -cg

For some time now I've been thinking about writing essays.  I believe it is the role of a good essayist to dissect the present; to critique it, laud its virtues and condemn its injustices and failures.  I think we need more critical thinkers in our society, and more readers.  An enlightened and knowledgeable citizenry is essential to the preservation of a Constitutional Republic.  I'm sure we've all heard that quip before, but how many of us actually act on that, or actively try to seek the wisdom of thought and reason?  At least for 2014, I promise to read more, think more, and write more...