Compass A&E

Now that closets are cleaned out and drawers tidied like never before, thanks to COVID-19, there is a good chance that jewelry has turned up and been given a what-do-I-do-with-this look.

After a year of quarantine, a travel pro shares some getaway ideas.

The Connecticut Historical Society has two new exhibitions that remember the beginnings of the fight for civil rights in America.

This is a masterclass in a book. In “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russian Writers Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life,” George Saunders, fiction author extraordinaire and professor of creative writing at Syracuse, takes us through a close reading of seven short-story masterpieces, all by Russian writers.

It’s been a year since the quarantine began and perhaps your children are distance learning at home and it’s winter and the windows are closed and there are no fresh fragrant flowers from the garden, no pine-scented holiday decorations.

Here’s a perfect indoor winter challenge to set for yourself: See who can come up with the most examples of famous books in which characters knit. 

Rule one: Yes, we know that all writers are “knitting a story together” so no, you can’t claim every tale every written and thus win the prize.

Sonnet 65

William Shakespeare

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,

But sad mortality o’ersways their power,

How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,

Whose action is no stronger than a flower?

Most readers of this newspaper are sufficiently seasoned that they have chosen a favorite James  Bond — either Roger Moore or Sean Connery. Perhaps some younger readers might throw in a vote for Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan.