In his new novel Lost Memory of Skin Russell Banks wants to disturb us and with a disturbing subject sex offenders No attempt is made to exculpate these men but Russell does want his readers to do what many in society today refuse to do He wants us to see these offenders as men mdash failed s

According to Time Magazine ldquo There was a hand-scrawled sign on the fence post of a cross-roads farm come in for coffee and cake rdquo It was a Yuletide invitation Doesn rsquo t seem all that strange until one learns that the Yule in question was seventy years ago this month and that the p

Earlier this semester I said to a student as I shook his hand after Sunday Mass ldquo Did anyone ever tell you that you look a lot like ldquo Harry Potter rdquo He interrupted me ldquo All the time rdquo ldquo You really do rdquo A few weeks later at Halloween many students had do

Did I ever tell you about Ruth She was a checker at the grocery store my father ran One of my earliest childhood memories was Ruth seeing my toddler self on the arm of my mother pick up a Tootsie Roll to put in my pocket She whispered something into my Mother rsquo s ear After my first ldquo

Jesus said to his disciples Be watchful Be alert You do not know when the time will come It is like a man traveling abroad He leaves home and places his servants in charge each with his own work and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch Watch therefore you do not know when the Lord of the hous

What if you could change history That rsquo s the provocative premiss of Stephen King rsquo s newest offering entitled 11 22 63 A Novel The date of course is that of the Kennedy assassination a watershed moment in modern history But what if there were a way to go back and prevent Lee Har