Monthly Archives: August 2010

Out of Near Death, a Vision of Love

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2010

Spiritual Sunday Thanks to all of you who wrote this past week following the twin blows of my uncle’s death and news of the severity of Alan’s latest cancer diagnosis. The discussion in response to Thursday’s post about which goes deeper, self or love, brought to the periphery of my mind a catechism in which […]

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Where Are the Players of Yesteryear?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 21, 2010

Sports Saturday Mais où sont les neiges d’antan? François Villon There’s not much going on in the sports world at the moment. Soccer’s World Cup now seems like a dream, the last major golf tournament has been played (with Tiger magic seemingly on indefinite hold), and football, basketball, hockey, and tennis’s U.S. Open await in […]

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How to Film Austen Heroines Saying Yes

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2010

Amanda Root as Anne Elliott  Film Friday One must show a great deal of sensitivity in how one films a Jane Austen heroine accepting a marriage proposal. That’s because the author never shows us the acceptances directly. Although I am generally not a great fan of filmed versions of Jane Austen novels, I have to […]

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Which Is Deeper, Love or Self?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2010

I haven’t talked in a while about my friend Alan, who has experienced cancerous tumors in his neck, eyelid, lungs and brain. In each case they were either removed or radiated, allowing us to go on hoping that all would be well. Alan, after all, has already lived a year and a half longer than […]

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Big Sis, Baby Bro

By Robin Bates | Published: August 18, 2010

The relationship between a big sister and her baby brother is special. In fact, it’s archetypal. It doesn’t matter if she is in her 80’s and he is in his 70’s. Somehow he is still “little bro,” and when she can’t protect him the universe seems to have gone horribly wrong. These thoughts came to […]

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A Whale Poem to Lift the Spirits

By Robin Bates | Published: August 17, 2010

A Scott Bates whale poem to lift your spirits.

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Moving beyond August Madness

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2010

Alexander Pope, taking his cue from the Roman poet Juvenal, knew what a crazy month August could be. In The Dunciad the end of civilization occurs in August, coinciding with the rise of the “dog star” Sirius: Now flam’d the Dog Star’s unpropitious ray, Smote ev’ry brain, and wither’d every bay [poet]; Sick was the […]

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God’s Plenitude: A Nest Full of Stars

By Robin Bates | Published: August 14, 2010

Spiritual Sunday Recently I asked Ugandan Farida Bag, a regular reader of this website, whether it was appropriate to wish her a Happy Ramadan, the month-long Islamic observance that started this past week. She sent back the following lovely letter, along with a food poem. Farida’s appreciation of the poem serves as evidence that the […]

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Stephen Strasburg Is Pitching Hope

By Robin Bates | Published: August 14, 2010

Sports Saturday There is nothing like a brilliant rookie pitcher to breathe life back into the game of baseball. Living less than two hours from our nation’s capital, I’m in the midst of the unbridled excitement over the Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg had a bad outing as he came off Injured Reserve this past […]

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