Author Archives: Barry Pomeroy

About Barry Pomeroy

I had an English teacher in high school many years ago who talked about writing as something that people do, rather than something that died with Shakespeare. I began writing soon after, maudlin poetry followed by short prose pieces, but finally, after years of academic training, I learned something about the magic of the manipulated word.

Misplacing People by Modifiers

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

Normally when I am reading articles, especially those on a topic outside my field of study, I often gloss over errors or problems with the prose. Sometimes I am halted in midsentence by an utterance that is troubling in terms … Continue reading →

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How Using Academic Research is like being in an Argentinian Argument

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

Although many academics tacitly accept that research makes a paper stronger, they don’t exactly examine that premise. In fact, if the paper is well argued, and has evidence it has garnered from the primary text(s), other sources are superfluous. They … Continue reading →

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Magazines and the Internet

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

I was watching a video on YouTube about a man who was setting up his wilderness cabin. Although he spent most of his time complaining about a snow storm that was sweeping through his area I was most struck by … Continue reading →

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A Use of Old Cannonballs

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

Galileo was alone on the top of the tower. He’d asked his friends to stay away from his experiment. He’d experienced enough failure in the past to worry that his latest venture might prove to be embarrassing and he was … Continue reading →

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CBC’s “This is That” and the Reality of Our News Broadcasts

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

I thought my reaction to the popular CBC parody show, This is That was unlike that of others, so I never mentioned it until this summer when I was talking to my friend in Montreal. It turned out, others have … Continue reading →

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Partridge in the Fall

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

When I was in my teens and traveling on the school bus in the mornings, I would often sit across from my friend Bruce. We were both farm children and thus had lots of chores to finish every night, but … Continue reading →

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Checking Your Delusions

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

The method for checking our many delusions—that the Harry Potter letter is going to arrive for us any moment, that god is carefully listening to my prayers about the cancer He gave my mother, that the earth is flat, the … Continue reading →

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Waking to News about Maniacs

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

Since I need to be awake by nearly the same time every weekday, I have taken to setting my clock radio for nine in the morning and then listening to the morning news before I actually turn off the clock … Continue reading →

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Growing up in the Modern Depression

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

Each generation visits its sins on the next, just as children will grow up to have their teeth set on edge by grapes if their parents have learned to be sour. Since the great depression, two more generations have struggled … Continue reading →

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The Enthusiasm of the Young

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Barry Pomeroy

It’s almost a cliché that older people lose their enthusiasm. We are told that they are beaten down by their many responsibilities and powerless in the face of a fate that they can see, if they squint just right, riding … Continue reading →

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