Monthly Archives: June 2010

The Perfect Game that Wasn’t

By Robin Bates | Published: June 12, 2010

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 […]

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Freeing Oneself from Past Trauma

By Robin Bates | Published: June 11, 2010

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.  […]

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Epic vs. Ironic Heroes

By Robin Bates | Published: June 10, 2010

On Monday I described my friend Alan as an Odysseus figure for the way he has coming back, time after time, in his battle with his cancer.  He appreciated the article but was taken aback by the comparison and asked why I hadn’t compared him instead with someone like Holden Caulfield.  He said he didn’t […]

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A Book to Read While Looking for Work

By Robin Bates | Published: June 9, 2010

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 […]

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After 37 Years, Still 2 Lights above the Sea

By Robin Bates | Published: June 8, 2010

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, […]

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A Battle with Cancer: The Epic Version

By Robin Bates | Published: June 7, 2010

From time to time I have written about my friend Alan, who has been assaulted by a series of cancerous tumors that the doctors keep on removing, either through surgery or through radiation/cyberknifing.  He has had tumors removed from his eyelid, his neck, both lungs (six in all from the lungs) and now, most recently, […]

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Finding God in Nature’s Church

By Robin Bates | Published: June 6, 2010

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 […]

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The Prizefighter vs. the Yokel

By Robin Bates | Published: June 5, 2010

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 […]

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The Grand Illusion that We Fight Over

By Robin Bates | Published: June 4, 2010

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 […]

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