This Scott Bates poem captures the swagger of those who con their fellow Americans while trumpeting free enterprise and bootstrapism.
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Libertarian Conmen Want Your Fatted Calf
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Return of the Prodigal Son", big government, Cliven Bundy, Libertarianism, Scott Bates, Tea Party, welfare Comments closed
Class Warfare in Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling’s leftwing politics shape the Harry Potter series.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged class politics, class warfare, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling Comments closed
Warning Labels for the Classics
Suggestions that certain classics come with “trigger warnings” leads of the following reflection.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged censorship, Geoffrey Chaucer, Homer, Iliad, Importance of Being Earnest, John Milton, Oscar Wilde, Paradise Lost, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wife of Bath Comments closed
No Calendar Except for this Bountiful Day
Derek Walcott’s elegy to his mother unexpectedly doubles as a Commencement poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Bounty", commencement, Derek Walcott, elegies, graduations, Nature Comments closed
Frodo’s Battle with Sin
Students discover that “Lord of the Rings” is a story about their Christian journeys.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christianity, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Satan, Sin Comments closed
Rituals of Commencement
Robert Creeley’s graduation poem captures both the predictability and the unpredictability of young people going forth into the world.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "blessing the boats", "For the Graduation", College, commencement, Creeley (Robert), graduation, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
Student Learns from Learn’d Astronomer
One of my students took profound lessons from “When I Heard My Learn’d Astronomer.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer", Art, music theory, Science, Walt Whitman Comments closed
This Is the Way the World Ends
Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” reflects upon how the world will end. Recent news of melting Antarctic glaciers says we can expect fire and ice to both play a role.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Fire and Ice", C. S. Lewis, climate change, global warming, Last Battle, melting Antarctic ice, melting glaciers, Robert Frost Comments closed
Black Students Examine Uncle Tom
Two African American male students find continued worth in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged abolition, Christianity, Harriet Beecher Stowe, martyrdom, racialism, racism, Uncle Tom's Cabin Comments closed
