In a follow-up to yesterday’s post where I talked about my cancer-ridden friend Alan, I examine another passage from The Brothers Karamazov. This one is focused on aging generally, not just death. If you ever find yourself getting depressed about getting old, check it out. And check out as well William Wordsworth’s Intimations […]
Monthly Archives: February 2011
With Aging, Abundant Recompense
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aging, Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Intimations of Immortality, Nature, Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth Comments closed
How Life Looks When One Is Property
Last week we had another fine presentation in the series of Twain lectures that my colleague Ben Click has been running. Once again a talk about race and Huckleberry Finn deepened my respect for that magnificent book. Here are some of the ideas I picked up, which I share with you from memory since I didn’t […]
Poetry Unleashed in the Streets of Cairo
The Daily Beast website has an article about poetry that is being chanted in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt. (Thanks to the Daily Dish for alerting me to it.) It shows once again that language well used has the power to move mountains—or at any rate, to give historical players a firm place upon […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Will to Live", Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi, Egypt, politics, Revolution, Tunisia Comments closed
A Tiny Seed Can Save a Church
Spiritual Sunday Like many mainline Protestant churches, our little Episcopalian congregation in St. Mary’s City, Maryland is having money difficulties. The expense of aging buildings plus a recession that wiped out much of our endowment has forced us to hold fairly continuous fundraisers to balance the budget. People have become testy and […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Brothers Karamazov, Church, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nature, Religion, Spirituality Comments closed
A Champ on the Field, a Thug Elsewhere
Sports Saturday Although it is a downer on the eve of Super Bowl Sunday, I can’t help but think of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger through the lens of Joyce Carol Oates’ terrifying short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” This is one reason I will be not be rooting for the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Ben Roethlisberger, Football, Joyce Carol Oates, Philadelphia Story, Sports, violence, Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Comments closed
Strangelove Somewhat Dated (Thank God!)
Film Friday Recently, maybe on National Public Radio, I heard a story that struck me as marvelous: an American tourist was visiting underground Russian bomb shelters. What with improving relations, apparently the Russians no longer feel they need a place where their government officials can hide out for two weeks following a nuclear attack. The […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Dr. Strangelove, Film, politics, Stanley Kubrick, war Comments closed
Chaucer and Hugh Hefner’s Wedding
Here’s a post that has been awaiting a moment when I thought this website could use a comic interlude. I’m not suggesting in any way that Hugh Hefner’s forthcoming marriage (check out Timothy Egan’s horrified response) is as newsworthy as, say, Egypt’s uprising (Monday’s post) or America’s problem with guns (yesterday’s post). But we […]
Happiness Is a Warm Gun (Shoot, Shoot)
Following the Columbine High School shootings, outrage against permissive gun laws led, not to tougher gun laws, but to pushback by the National Rifle Association. The NRA went on to help George W. Bush squeak by Albert Gore in the 2000 elections and has since become so bold that the 2006 Congress was afraid to extend […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Ballad of the National Rifle Association", guns, Scott Bates, violence Comments closed
