Monthly Archives: August 2012

Medicare Politics and Gullible Oysters

By Robin Bates | Published: August 23, 2012

Like the oysters in “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” Americans are being lied to about GOP plans for Medicare.

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Ritually Enacting “Adultery”

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2012

Ritually enacting a piece of fiction, such as Andre Dubus’ “Adultery,” can lead to special insights.

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Summertime and the Living Is Easy

By Robin Bates | Published: August 21, 2012

An afternoon spent in a friend’s boat brought to mind Huck and Jim watching the Mississippi River.

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Romney and Ryan’s Gently Smiling Jaws

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2012

Romney’s call for us to trust him on his taxes and policy specifics reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s “little crocodile.”

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Overrichness Is a Subtle Disease

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2012

Rumi talks about the need to move beyond the lassitude caused by wealth and to turn towards teachers of the spirit.

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A Golf Poem about Liberated Children

By Robin Bates | Published: August 18, 2012

In protest against laboring children, Scott Bates imagines the letter “L” going on strike.

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Sex and the Single Pretty Woman

By Robin Bates | Published: August 17, 2012

“Pretty Woman” captures the ideas and the spirit of Helen Gurley Brown, who died Monday.

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Ode Softens Blow of Friend’s Departure

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2012

The departure of a friend put me in mind of a John Dryden ode–which led in turn to recalling an intense moment of connection.

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Ryan, Abortion, and Hardy’s Angel Clare

By Robin Bates | Published: August 15, 2012

Paul Ryan may resemble Angel Claire in Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” but there’s a vicar who shows us a better way of dealing with a “fallen” woman.

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