Here is a list of essays that are currently available on this site, in alphabetical order by title, with a sample photograph and an excerpt of text for each.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne, best known for his collection of short stories Twice Told Tales, and the novels The Scarlet Letter, and The House of the Seven Gables, was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. He was in the sixth generation of the Hathorne/Hawthorne family in the new world.
In many of his works, Hawthorne explores some of the darker aspects of life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He portrays the early colonists as irrational, guilt-ridden, and unaccepting of others’ beliefs and viewpoints. Bothered by what he considers the sins of his earliest ancestors in the new world, he carried their guilt in his soul, and sought relief through writing tales and novels. Read Essay.
Seagulls
They’re birds, seemingly always hungry but not particularly fearful birds. They’re scavengers, not particularly fussy about what they eat. Anyone who has left food out on their beach blanket—by “out” I mean not in a cooler with a secure latch—while they went for a quick swim in the ocean knows that. Read Essay