by Michael Leppert | May 9, 2025 | Pop/Life
In “Mother Night,” Kurt Vonnegut wrote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” I might add: “And for how long.” I was invited to join a small group of students last week to celebrate the completion of their undergraduate...
by Michael Leppert | Jun 21, 2023 | Pop/Life
If ever there was a day designated for giving and receiving good advice, it would seem Father’s Day is the day. I’m not sentimental about much anymore, and even though I refer to myself as “dad” more often than I use my actual name, the holiday is among the things I...
by Michael Leppert | Jun 4, 2021 | Pop/Life
On my first trip to New Orleans I took an aimless walk through Jackson Square one uncomfortably hot August evening. It was aimless first because the city and the French Quarter have a way of disorienting me, and second because all of it was so wonderfully unique that...
by Michael Leppert | Dec 4, 2020 | Pop/Life
The art deprivation part of 2020 started merely as an annoyance. Whining about all of the postponed and cancelled performances for which I had tickets was an early pandemic hobby of mine. And I had plenty of friends to do that with. The Nathaniel Rateliff show was the...
by Michael Leppert | Jul 10, 2016 | Politics/Government
In 2014, I finally read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, the satirical novel about World War II experiences and time traveling. In the classic 1969 book, the main character is thrown into the future and sees a bumper sticker that says “Reagan For President.” I...
