My Word's
Worth:

Archive, Volume 2

1. Computer Shy -- the role computers play in popular fiction tells us a lot about our fears.

2. Dixieland Thought -- a good conversation is like Dixieland jazz

3. Fitter to Print -- what would newspapers be like if real writers, not reporters, covered the various beats?

4. The Daily Mawgid -- if newspapers don't quite seem to get it, it may be because so many of the reporters are Mawgids

5. Folkways of the Iowans -- on such summer rites as the annual bike ride against Iowa and the Bix run (and Bix sit)

6. What Does a Woman Want? -- the way to find out is to read romance novels.

7. Dogs on the Net -- on how the net allows us to meet mind to mind, without assumptions about each other based on our physical appearance.

8. Only Humans -- we're more like animals than we think, but here are some ways we are utterly unique.

9. Conventional Wisdom -- explaining political conventions to my (then) British audience.

10. Carless and Carfree -- on the joys of living without a car.

11. History Story -- we forget too often that history is not a collection of dates, but a collection of grand stories.

12. Son Rise -- on my son

13. Mean and Stupid -- on our politics.

14. Dr. Death -- why Dr. Kevorkian to me is both macabre and necessary.

15. Driven to Distraction -- on driving my son to Boston.

16. Wild Kingdom -- on the shy but hopeful people who lurk on the net.

17. The Dilbertizing of America -- three books I read suggest that work has changed for the worse in America.

18. Unifying Vision -- what were the top 100 moments on TV? And would our answers match TV Guide's?

19. Afraid of the Net

20. From Books to Bytes -- how did a nice old lady like me end up on the net?

21. ReadAlouds -- books so good you need to grab the nearest child so you have an excuse to read them outloud.

22. Immoral Certainty -- our certainty keeps us from understanding each other, and from learning more.

23. Baxter in Charge -- on America's foreign policy.

24. Bar None -- what a world without lawyers might be like.

25. Merry Christmas

26. To My Known and Unknown Fans -- trying to figure out how I attract the particular set of fans I know about.

27. That Was the Year That Was -- my annual review of the last year's reading.

28. The Enchanted Toy Shop -- the net is not only a source of great information but the greatest toy store adults ever gave themselves.

29. The Four Seasons -- why I love the midwest and wouldn't settle in the south or west.

30. The Ghost of Christmas Future -- how Christmas has changed since I was a kid.

31. Plan Ahead -- we live in a culture that fosters impatience.

32. New and Improved

33. The World Inside Your Head -- we don't believe what we see -- we see BECAUSE we believe.

34. The Cat in the Book -- about the mysterious relationship between cats and booklovers.

35. Visigoths -- how librarians became the new barbarians

36. It's Like This -- on metaphor.

37. Beauty and the...Rest of Us -- on our curiously mixed feelings about beauty.

38. Survey of Men 101 -- I asked my male readers what they want in a women, and this is what they said.

39. And Now for Something Completely Inconsequential -- a column about silly e-mail games.

40. To: Lions / From: Christians -- on librarians and censors.

41. Patron Saint of Dustbunnies -- on my regrettable housekeeping style.

42. Without Skin -- a tribute to Anne Lamott.

43. Let's Assume... -- on our underlying assumptions, so basic to us that we hardly even know they're there until they're challenged.

44. Mail by the Ton -- on sorting the library's junk mail

45. Becoming a Book, Part I -- playing the game of Fahrenheit 451; if you had to save a book by memorizing it, what book(s) would you keep alive and why? My answers.

46. Becoming a Book, Part II -- your answers.