Randy Kennedy has written a superb article in the New York Times that points out parallels between the Gulf oil spill and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Kennedy says that, in the 19th century, New England whalers had to venture further and further afield to find oil-producing whales (they had depleted the local stock). Melville’s apocalyptic vision is eerily prescient.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
When Nature Wreaks Its Revenge
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Albee (Edward), Edward Albee, Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Gulf oil spill, Mark Twain, Moby Dick, Nature, Oil Spill Comments closed
Soccer, an Un-American Sport?
Landon Donovan, man of the match Sports Saturday Years ago I read (I think in The Washington Post) a humorous article about why Americans are not great soccer enthusiasts. The article said that Americans have problems with a game where a two-goal lead is practically insurmountable. Robert Frost would have something to say about that. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Oven Bird", Road Not Taken, Robert Frost, Soccer, Sports Comments closed
Movies for Surviving Medical School
Film Friday A film doesn’t have to be masterpiece to help us at critical times in our lives. For instance, La Bamba may be a so-so biopic about rock legend Ritchie Valens, but it opened my eyes to the difficulties of being a second child. In Ritcie’s younger brother I saw my own younger brother […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Care of the Soul, Education, Evan Almighty, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Medical School, Spirituality, St. John of the Cross, Thomas Moore Comments closed
How to Tell a True War Story
Two weeks ago I was honored to participate in two conversations with high school classes about the Tim O’Brien Vietnam War novel The Things They Carried. Carl Rosin, an English high school teacher and regular reader of this blog, set up the occasion. I have taught O’Brien’s marvelous work in our College’s 20th century English-Language […]
Nature or Poetry? Choose Both
“The world is filled with the grandeur of God.” “The sounding cataract haunted me like a passion.” In my last two posts, I reported how poetry sprang to mind as I walked through some of California’s natural wonders, specifically Big Basin Redwoods State Park and Yosemite National Park. Today I meditate on the relationship of […]
The Cataract Haunted Me Like a Passion
Ansel Adams, Yosemite Falls Julia, Toby (our youngest son) and I visited Yosemite National Park for the first time last week, and I am still vibrating from the stunning rock faces and gorgeous waterfalls. It was remarkable to see what seemed, at a distance, to be thin, almost delicate, streams of water pouring from great […]
The Grandeur of God
Spiritual Sunday Julia and I have been in Davis, California seeing our son this past week (he is a graduate student in English at the university there) and took the occasion to visit Big Basin Redwoods State Park. As I walked through the silence of the forest and gazed up in awe at the mammoth […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "God's Grandeur", Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gulf spill, Nature Comments closed
