Paul Combs
Bio
I’m a writer, podcaster, and bookseller whose ultimate goal (besides being a roadie for the E Street Band) is to make reading, writing, and books in general as popular in Texas as high school football. It may take a while.
Achievements (1)
Stories (198/0)
We Need a National Standard for the Teaching of High School History
Many people naturally assume that the teaching of history in schools is standardized across the United States, but this is, in reality, not the case at all. While all students are required to take American History classes both to graduate and to be accepted into a university, what is taught in those classes can vary significantly both in different parts of the country and even within individual states. This is because each of the 50 states sets certain academic standards, including the crucial decision about which textbooks will be used and what information those books contain. Each local school district makes further decisions for their city or district, and each teacher brings their own personal beliefs and biases to the classroom.
By Paul Combs6 days ago in Education
Some Persistent Myths About Confederate Monuments
The past several years have seen an increasing debate over the place of Confederate monuments in our national life and history. It is a debate that has only intensified as many of those monuments have been removed from parks, town squares, courthouse lawns, and other public spaces, particularly across the South.
By Paul Combs7 days ago in FYI
The Best Clubhouse Ever
The Globe Bookshop is, as is too often the case, empty. Paco has found that while there is a very loyal core group of readers who love books in translation, that core is quite small. Staring out the front window of the shop, he sees a steady stream of young people filing into the new microbrewery that just opened across the street, intent on drinking an early lunch. He thinks, not for the first time, that if his shop was the Globe Books and Beer Garden he would be set for life. Ah, Fort Worth…where the West begins and the mind ends.
By Paul Combs7 days ago in Fiction
Five Fun Reading Challenges for Summer 2022
It’s almost summer, which means it’s time to start thinking about some summer reading challenges (though with temperatures already in the 90s Texas, it feels like summer’s here already). I have now been on this site long enough for this to become an annual article, the first coming almost exactly a year ago. I won’t repeat the four challenges I proposed last summer, but if you want to try one of them, the article is below.
By Paul Combs9 days ago in Geeks
Five Superhero Tag Teams That Need to Happen
The world celebrated National Superhero Day last week, a holiday I enjoy far more than the annual (and more popular) Star Wars May the 4th festivities yesterday. I have been pondering superheroes for the past week, and realized that there have been some missed opportunities when it comes to teaming up these iconic characters; Batman and Robin are fine, but that combo has been done to death. Let’s think outside the box and add some kick to the mix. The following five cool (though unlikely) teams are the ones I really want to see.
By Paul Combs13 days ago in Geeks
'Diamonds and Rust': An Underappreciated Classic from Joan Baez
There is no question that 1975 was a year of amazing music. Besides the release of Springsteen’s Born to Run (the greatest album of all time) in August, the year before America’s bicentennial saw classics like Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, and many others. On a website called besteveralbums.com, where they list how albums ranked for each year, I was stunned to find that for 1975 one of the truly great albums of that year languished at #175 on their list: the stellar Diamonds & Rust by folk/rock icon Joan Baez.
By Paul Combs16 days ago in Beat
Three Persistent Myths About the Vietnam War People Still Believe Today
Next January will mark the 50th anniversary of the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War. In addition to remaining one of the most unpopular conflicts in U.S. history, the history of the war has been the victim of some key revisions over the past five decades, all of them erroneous. Three in particular have taken firm hold and need to be corrected.
By Paul Combs24 days ago in FYI
'The Writers Afterlife': A Look at Why We Write
Why do we write? It’s a question every writer asks themselves, sometimes on a daily basis. Why, rather than subjecting ourselves to the torture of the blank page, don’t we instead take up scrapbooking or the bassoon or rabbit breeding? Surely becoming a rodeo clown or a blacksmith or an encyclopedia salesman are all preferable to pursuing a life as a writer. Yet we persist, so why?
By Paul Combs29 days ago in Journal
Three Persistent Myths About the American Revolution
Given that the American Revolution is basically the beginning of our story as a nation, it’s not surprising that myths and misconceptions have grown up over the centuries. We’ve had a fair share of screw ups along with our successes, but the Revolution was awesome and American and all that other jingoistic hoopla we love to print on T-shirts for our Fourth of July barbecues.
By Paul Combs30 days ago in FYI
Three Myths About Aaron Burr
When you hear the name “Aaron Burr,” it’s likely that the first thing that comes to mind is “that guy who shot Alexander Hamilton.” This is certainly accurate, and their duel has been crystalized in the current popular imagination by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical Hamilton. But as with most historical figures (as with each one of us non-famous people), Burr’s life cannot be reduced to a simple phrases or a couple catchy showtunes.
By Paul Combsabout a month ago in FYI
My Five Favorite Movie Villains
I know you’re not supposed to cheer for the bad guys in movies, but there are many times that I do; hell, we all do. We might do it secretly, never revealing that dark side of our psyche that wants to see Mr. Righteous Hero get smacked down, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s part of being human, vicariously living out through the characters on the screen things we would never attempt in real life. The hero does what we’re supposed to do; the villain does what we want to do.
By Paul Combsabout a month ago in Geeks
