Monthly Archives: April 2011

Reading Literature, A Spiritual Practice

By Robin Bates | Published: April 3, 2011

McEntyre notes that, in the ancient practice of lectio divina, one sought to maintain “spiritual focus and equanimity” by “reading Scripture slowly, listening for the word or phrase that speaks to you, pausing to consider prayerfully the gift being offered in those words for this moment.” Ditto, the author says, for reading literature.

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Take Me Out to the Orgasmic Experience

By Robin Bates | Published: April 2, 2011

In his poem, Scott Bates fastens on the fact that the baseball diamond and the outfield, in their intersection, resemble a mandorla. An almond-shaped figure of mythic significance, the mandorla has been seen to symbolize “the interactions and interdependence of opposing worlds and forces,” such as spirit and matter or heaven and earth.

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Bread, Chocolate, & Immigrant Self-Hatred

By Robin Bates | Published: April 1, 2011

While watching Franco Brusati’s 1976 film Bread and Chocolate about Italian immigrant workers, I thought about how our own Latino and Latina immigrants must see both the United States and themselves. Do they reject their own cultures and idealize those of America? How does the anti-immigrant feeling evinced by parts of America enter into how the newcomers see themselves? Is there this same mixture of envy and self-loathing?

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