Monthly Archives: July 2017

Our Most Prescient Sci-Fi Writer?

A “New Yorker” article argues that Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Seed” wins out over “1984” and “Handmaid’s Tale” in “the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

The Pearl of Great Price Within

Jesus used the image of a “pearl of great price” to convey his sense of heaven. Hilda Doolittle uses it to convey her own sense of transcendence in a fine poem about shells.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

GOP “Moderates,” the Hollow Men

Despite brave talk from a number of so-called Republican moderates, only Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins stood up to their party in an attempt to save healthcare. Time to read “The Hollow Men” again.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Even Iago Should Not Be Tortured

Examining an upcoming trial by people who were tortured during the George W. Bush administration, Ariel Dorfman examines the face of Iago and the satisfaction we take at the tortures that await him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

A Little Bit Chipped Off in Brilliance

D. H. Lawrence’s poem “Hummingbird” works as a kind of trance, out of which we must be jolted lest we be swallowed up.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Does School Teach Kids to Hate Reading?

An elementary school teacher is accusing traditional teaching assignments of killing kids’ natural love of reading. Is he right?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments closed

Flattering Trump Is Like Wallowing in S***

Donald Trump is surrounding himself with flatterers. Dante has a graphic account of where such people end up in Inferno.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Let Me Not Love Thee If I Love Thee Not

George Herbert, never afraid to go toe-to-toe with God, grapples with his tormenting faith in “Affliction (1).”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Jane Eyre on Caring for the Sick

As I support people who are sick and aging, I turn to Jane Eyre as a model of one who considers such activity to be, not a self-sacrifice, but a gift to herself.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed