Monthly Archives: September 2013

Inundated by E-Mail? A Mixed Solution

By Robin Bates | Published: September 12, 2013

Wendell Berry has a poem addressing a fantasy many of us have had: jettisoning all our mail (and now, e-mail).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Moll Flanders, Quintessential Capitalist

By Robin Bates | Published: September 11, 2013

Moll Flanders is the ultimate capitalist, putting a price on everything. And my class finds itself cheering for her.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Green Knight’s Lessons on Death & Dying

By Robin Bates | Published: September 10, 2013

My next book will be on what “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” teaches us about death and dying.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments closed

Lit’s 10 Strongest Female Characters

By Robin Bates | Published: September 9, 2013

Who are literature’s ten strongest female characters? Here’s my list.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Ballad of a Nun, a Bordello, and Mary

By Robin Bates | Published: September 8, 2013

Scott Bates’ “Ballad of Thoughtful Love” retells a medieval fable about a nun-turned-whore who is saved by the Virgin Mary.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

The Agony of a Federer Fan

By Robin Bates | Published: September 7, 2013

Federer’s early tournament losses bring about an agony not unlike that of poet Richard Shelton mourning the death of his beloved Sonora Desert.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Speak Now for Peace

By Robin Bates | Published: September 6, 2013

Obama, take note: Vachel Lindsay in 1915 counseled against going to war even after the sinking of the Lusitania.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Don’t Know Much about History

By Robin Bates | Published: September 5, 2013

Nixon Waterman’s 1902 comic poem about students’ ignorance of history is probably still true today.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Heaney’s Great “Beowulf” Translation

By Robin Bates | Published: September 4, 2013

One of the late Seamus Heaney’s great legacies is his translation of “Beowulf.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments closed