Monthly Archives: April 2018

A River Poem in Memory of My Son

Poetry cannot bring back a son one has lost but it can capture his beauty, as this Jeanne Vote lyric does.

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Islamic Philosophy vs. Muslim Fanatics

In his fantasy novel “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,” Salman Rushdie engaged in a debate within Islam about Reason vs. Faith. Good and bad jinn weigh in on each side.

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Remembering Rachel: Joyous, Pulsing

In a memorial service for my friend Rachel Kranz, I will talk about what her novels reveal about her.

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D. H. Lawrence: People in Thrall to Things

D. H. Lawrence’s story “Things” features, among other things, a returning ex-pat couple trying to figure out what to do with all their things. I’m currently sympathetic with their predicament.

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Jane Austen Explains Mansplaining

Jane Austen understood mansplaining very well. “Northanger Abbey” provides a case study.

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Caught in a Town’s Suffocating Embrace

A student experiencing difficulty leaving rural Maryland, where she grew up, found her dilemma captured in “100 Years of Solitude.”

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Filling Our Houses with Stuff

As I sort through decades of clutter in preparation to move to a smaller home, I am reminded of L. Frank Baum’s Oz book about bric-a-brac.

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You Must Sit Down, Says Love

Psalm 23 has an image which may help power one of George Herbert’s most beloved poems.

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Comey vs. Trump, Two Alpha Dogs

James Comey is right to fight for American justice against Donald Trump but his male pride helped get Trump elected. Toni Morrison describes the dynamics in “Song of Solomon.”

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