Monthly Archives: June 2010

When Nature Wreaks Its Revenge

By Robin Bates | Published: June 21, 2010

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.

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A Spiritual Interpretation of Waterfalls

By Robin Bates | Published: June 20, 2010

Spiritual Sunday I still haven’t gotten over the waterfalls at Yosemite—does one ever?—and so am sharing a spiritual interpretation of a waterfall by the 17th century mystical Anglican poet Henry Vaughan.  I’ve mentioned in a previous post  that I have mixed feelings about Vaughan (especially by how he sees the natural world cordoned off from […]

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Soccer, an Un-American Sport?

By Robin Bates | Published: June 19, 2010

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. […]

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Movies for Surviving Medical School

By Robin Bates | Published: June 18, 2010

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 […]

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Reading Literature under the Gun

By Robin Bates | Published: June 17, 2010

This evening I will be moderating a Leonardtown Library conversation about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  It’s an enjoyable novel that is perfect for book discussion groups since it’s about a book discussion group. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set up during […]

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How to Tell a True War Story

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2010

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 […]

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Nature or Poetry? Choose Both

By Robin Bates | Published: June 15, 2010

“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 […]

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The Cataract Haunted Me Like a Passion

By Robin Bates | Published: June 14, 2010

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 […]

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The Grandeur of God

By Robin Bates | Published: June 13, 2010

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 […]

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