Memorial Day Today we honor our soldiers killed in the line of duty. Many of them were idealistic, most of them were young. I offer up today an enigmatic poem by A.E. Housman that captures, in an understated way, the tragedy of their deaths. The poem is unusual in that it talks about soldiers having a choice. […]
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Young People Fighting Old People’s Wars
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Here Dead We Lie", A. E. Housman, Afghanistan War, war Comments closed
Suffocated by Hockey–and Loving It
Sports Saturday As two championship-starved hockey-rich cities prepare to square off in the Stanley Cup finals (Chicago and Philadelphia), Ljubljana English Department’s Jason Blake once again reflects upon the meaning of hockey for Canadians—and upon the omnipresence of stereotypes about Canadians playing hockey. While he was distraught at seeing the last Canadian team (the Montreal […]
After the Mess, Can Obama Be Fortinbras?
I’ve been thinking recently about how every Shakespearean tragedy concludes with a restoration of order. The stage may be strewn with corpses and the spectator’s heart may have broken into a thousand little pieces, but (as though to provide some reassurance) someone steps forward at the end to set things straight. In Hamlet it is […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Capitalism, Deregulation, Environment, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Nature, Othello, politics, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Interpreting Lit Makes for Better Citizens
Eugene Robinson Our Commencement speaker two weeks ago was the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my favorite columnists. He delivered a message to our graduates with which I fervently agree: THINK! Robinson told us that he is tired of seeing politics conducted with bumper sticker simplicity. The real problems […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Critical thinking, politics, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, William Shakespeare Comments closed
The Insidious Novels of Ayn Rand
When I first started hearing the name Rand Paul, I thought that it was a political pundit’s joke. I thought the talk was about his father, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, not the man who last week became Kentucky’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Since Ron Paul espouses certain libertarian principles, I assumed that people were […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Fountainhead, Libertarianism, politics Comments closed
Life Storming Out of the Darkness
Spiritual Sunday Today Western Christians observe Pentecost, the day 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection and 10 days after his ascension into heaven. Pentecost celebrates the moment when the disciplines saw themselves surrounded by tongues of fire and felt lifted up by the Holy Spirit. In the Book of John (14:16) Jesus is reported to have promised the […]
