[contextly_auto_sidebar] I'M hardly the only Gen Xer to grow up on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, a show that first aired about a year before I was born. Part of me thinks that my fondness for the program comes from the fact that my frequent viewing companion -- my maternal grandmother -- was, like Rogers, a Pittsburgh Presbyterian. But Rogers and his show imprinted itself on all kinds of people, … [Read more...]
Guest Columnist: Ken Burns’ Vietnam
[contextly_auto_sidebar] MUCH of the nation has been debating the latest Ken Burns documentary, which I -- the son of a Marine officer nearly killed in 1967 -- have not yet had the stomach to watch. This essay on the war comes from regular CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon, born the same year as my late father, and a fellow Marine with all kinds of complex and conflicted feelings … [Read more...]
The Late, Great Derek Walcott
[contextly_auto_sidebar] Folks, This week CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon looks at the legacy of the Saint Lucia-born, US-residing poet Derek Walcott, who died March 17. I share Christon's fondness for DW's verse, and was pleased enough to meet the poet once or twice at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Inst in CT, which I covered in the mid-'90s. It’s been nearly a month since … [Read more...]