Armando Galarraga Sports Saturday Even as we stand on the precipice of the World Cup—tragically I will be traveling cross country today when the U.S. is playing England—something has been happening in the world of baseball that invites comment. Perfect games are breaking out all over. A pitcher pitches a perfect game if no runner […]
Monthly Archives: June 2010
The Perfect Game that Wasn’t
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Luxury Boxes", Baseball, Bruce Cohen, Great American Novel, Perfection, Philip Roth, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sports Comments closed
Freeing Oneself from Past Trauma
Soledad Villamil (Irene), Ricardo Darin (Esposito) Film Friday Warning: The following essay contains spoilers. Today I sing the praises of The Secret in Their Eyes, the Juan Jose Campanella film from Argentina that won the 2009 Foreign Film Oscar. It is more than a gripping film about investigating a murder, although it is also that. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Film, Juan Jose Campanella, love, Mystery, politics, Secrets in Their Eyes Comments closed
A Book to Read While Looking for Work
Can a love of literature help you find work? Jody Costa, a former student of mine, had the opportunity to find out this past year. I asked Jody to write a post to provide insight into how literature enters into the lives of 20-something college graduates wrestling with the rough economy. She discovered, as you […]
After 37 Years, Still 2 Lights above the Sea
You will not be surprised to hear that poetry played a big role in my wedding 37 years ago, on June 8, 1973. The outdoor wedding occurred shortly after Carleton’s Commencement ceremony (our good friends John Colman and Anne Smith got married shortly before). Three days earlier, after an intense week finishing up my final essays, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Ars Poetica", "On Marriage", Archibald MacLeish, Kahlil Gibran, love, Marriage Comments closed
Finding God in Nature’s Church
The bobolink, Dickinson’s sexton and chorister Spiritual Sunday “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy,” instructs the fourth commandment. How are we to keep it holy? Emily Dickinson, a writer who wrestled with the stern Calvinism of her day, observed the sabbath in her own way. She was a private person who was skeptical of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church", "This is what was bequeathed us", Emily Dickinson, Gregory Orr, Heaven, Nature, Religion, Spirituality Comments closed
The Prizefighter vs. the Yokel
Sports Saturday So my tennis idol, Roger Federer, is out of the French Open. Before the semi-finals. Federer’s astounding streak of 23 straight appearances in Grand Slam semi-final matches is one of the great streaks in sports and will never be approached. (To get a sense of its magnitude, consider that Rod Laver and Ivan […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Invisible Man, Rafael Nadal, Ralph Ellison, Roger Federer, Sports, tennis Comments closed
The Grand Illusion that We Fight Over
Film Friday I wrote Tuesday and Wednesday about Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” and the fences that divide us, both externally and internally. Today I write about one of the great humanistic films about dividing lines: Jean Renoir’s 1937 classic La Grande Illusion. The final scene of the film reminds me of “Mending Wall.” Two World […]
