Category: Essay

• The Para-Social Network

  The 2010 movie The Social Network details Mark Zuckerberg’s digital creation of Facesmash. Initially created out of spite after a failed date, it was an online directory of female students at Harvard where students could rate the girls’ attractiveness. Out of that misogynistic idea came Facebook, or TheFacebook as it was originally called. Today, Facebook…

  michardillo

  July 29, 2025

  Essay

  AJ Pearce, Catholic Church, completist, Elinor Lipman, Elizabeth Strout, Gospel of Luke, Jacques Pepin, Kirstin Chen, Mark Zuckerberg, Monsignor Oliver McGready, ParaSocial, The Social Network

• Come to Me All Who Labor

  This past Sunday the gospel happened to be one that has always confused me, the story of Martha and Mary and their visit from Jesus. Our parochial vicar, Fr. Juan Pablo Noboa, gave me something new to think about in connection to this passage of scripture from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, Verses 38-42. …

  michardillo

  July 24, 2025

  Essay

  Catholic, Catholic Church, death, gospel, homily, Lazarus, Luke, Magnificat, Martha, Mary, Mass, Matthew, scripture passage, St. Anthony’s Messenger

• The Scent of Home

  https://open.substack.com/pub/michardillo/p/the-scent-of-home?r=etmuf&utm_medium=ios

  michardillo

  June 25, 2025

  Essay

  Louisiana

• The Tables Have Turned

  https://substack.com/@michardillo/note/p-166483719?r=etmuf&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

  michardillo

  June 21, 2025

  Essay

• What Y’all Want to Eat Tomorrow?

  substack.com/@michardillo/note/c-127746154

  michardillo

  June 20, 2025

  Essay, food

• The Beauty of the Hydrangea

  open.substack.com/pub/michardillo/p/the-beauty-of-the-hydrangea

  michardillo

  June 19, 2025

  Essay

• The Grounding Force

  Check out my Substack for this new essay! https://open.substack.com/pub/michardillo/p/the-grounding-force?r=etmuf&utm_medium=ios

  michardillo

  June 18, 2025

  Essay, food

• Book Review: Overdue by Stephanie Perkins

  When perusing available titles in NetGalley, the beginning of the description of this one really jumped out at me: Ingrid Dahl, a cheerful twenty-nine-year-old librarian in the cozy mountain town of Ridgetop, North Carolina… The description finishes with “Overdue is a beautiful, slow-burn romance full of lust and longing about new beginnings and finding your way.”…

  michardillo

  May 25, 2025

  books, Essay

  book-review, books, bookstore, fiction, Goodreads, library, Macmillan, NetGalley, North Carolina, novel, Overdue, reading, romance genre, Saturday Books, Stephanie Perkins

• Fr. Basil Westendick, former pastor of St. Patrick’s in my hometown

  https://dannwoellertthefoodetymologist.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/franciscan-food-in-cincinnati/

  michardillo

  May 24, 2025

  Essay

• Book Review: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping [On a Dead Man] by Jesse Q. Sutanto

  After a brief hiatus of flying through books and writing reviews, I am back from a family trip and just finished this book. I absolutely loved Jesse Q. Sutanto’s first book in this newish series, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Berkley, 2023). It was a five-star read for me. I thought it was fresh…

  michardillo

  May 3, 2025

  books, Essay

  Berkley Publishing, book-review, books, fiction, Goodreads, Jesse Q. Sutanto, literature, murder mystery, mystery, novel, Paris, reading, social media, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers