Author Archives: Robin Bates

Wyatt Prunty on Faith and Imagination

In a talk on “Faith and the Imagination,” poet Wyatt Prunty talked about the faith required in the creative process–which is also like faith in one’s children growing up.

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How Quixote Hones Problem-Solving Skills

Works that employ meta-fiction to break down the boundaries between the real and the fantastical teach us how to think outside the box.

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Blake on Racism and Child Abuse

Blake’s “Little Black Boy,” quoted by Lamott in her latest book, is a complex exploration of racism.

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Democracy under Assault? Stand Firm

How to withstand Trump’s incessant assaults on democracy? Be like Lizzie in “Goblin Market.”

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Two Poems on the Magic of Eclipses

Two poems, by Wilcox and Trestman, capture the magic of eclipses.

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Stranger Than Fiction’s Easter Message

The film “Stranger Than Fiction” has a profound Lenten/Easter theme.

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A Poem for When You’re Feeling Weary

Swinburne’s “Garden of Proserpine,” a good poem for when you’re feeling fed up with life.

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Vlad’s Black Riders, Trump’s Tell-Tale Heart

Recent literature citations by opinion writers include “Lord of the Rings,” “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

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Caste in a Multicultural Democracy

To grapple with Wilkerson’s understanding of racism as a caste system, I turn to Langston Hughes, Twain, and Arundhati Roy.

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