After two years of high-school honors English with way too much Chaucer, Milton and Donne, taught by nuns old enough to have read the first printings, I begged my parents to let me drop into what was called “rapids.” The teacher was a lithe, bespectacled and young academic who taught the poetry of Bradstreet and Sexton – as well as...

I am staring at the spinning light of the police car, the blue orb pulsing in the dark. Someone is in trouble. Someone needs help…

B.B. King once sang, "The thrill is gone," and when it comes to the current state of music, I have to agree. I'm not one to compare one era to another and declare either greater; music is an art form that must forever progress whether we're fans of those changes or not. When I say the thrill is gone, I'm talking about the way we, as fans, interact and consume our music. Let me explain.