by Jeff Maisey | Mar 22, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Thirty-five years ago—10 years after I graduated from college—I decided to go back to school to pursue a master’s degree in American Studies. At the time I had no plans to become a teacher. My decision was motivated purely by a desire to gain a deeper...
by Jeff Maisey | Feb 21, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham I know a lot of people who’ve ordered ancestry test kits like 23andMe, but I’ve never felt compelled to do so, since I already know a great deal about my family history. My mother, especially, was interested in genealogy, and when I was still very...
by Jeff Maisey | Jan 19, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Music…is not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity. – Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs The other day, I pulled from one of my bookshelves a volume that I’ve revisited often over the last few years: Daniel...
by Jeff Maisey | Dec 15, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham So this is Christmas, and what have you done? – John Lennon When I was a kid, the Christmas season was the most exciting time of the year. Ushering it in, shortly after Thanksgiving, was the arrival of the Sears Christmas catalogue—or “Wish...
by Jeff Maisey | Nov 29, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham As the holidays approach, I find myself thinking about my all-time favorite movie for the season—Holiday Inn (1942), starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, which I’ve loved for nearly 50 years. The movie’s biggest claim to fame is that it...
by Jeff Maisey | Oct 15, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
(THREE GENERATIONS OF FANS: My father’s boyhood baseball glove from the 1930s, holding a ball signed by my son’s Little League team, which I coached. Photo by Tom Robotham) By Tom Robotham The one constant through all the years has been baseball. ~...