Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Virtues of a True Conservative

By Robin Bates | Published: January 20, 2015

Anthony Trollope’s thoughtful critiques of progressives can lead to constructive dialogues between conservatives and progressives.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anthony Trollope, Barack Obama, Conservatives, progressives, Warden | Comments closed

Against Race Oppression, Turn to Love

By Robin Bates | Published: January 19, 2015

While some of Lucille Clifton’s race poems have an edge, in the end she always comes back to love.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "listen children", "meeting after the savior gone", Black militancy, Lucille Clifton, Martin Luther King, race solidarity | Comments closed

The Creator Spirit’s Deep Embrace

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2015

Denise Levertov’s “Avowal” equates opening oneself to God to opening oneself to “the Creator Spirit.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Avowal", Denise Levertov, Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit | Comments closed

Peter Wimsey vs. Oklahoma Executions

By Robin Bates | Published: January 16, 2015

With Oklahoma resuming its executions yesterday, we need the reminders that Dorothy Sayers and Oscar Wilde give us about holding on to our humanity.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Ballad of Reading Gaol", "Eclogue for the Marriage of the Earl of Somerset", Busman's Honeymoon, Charles Warner, death penalty, Dorothy Sayers, John Donne, lethal injection, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Johnson | Comments closed

Fox Would Appall Conservative Trollope

By Robin Bates | Published: January 15, 2015

Conservative though he is, Anthony Trollope would be appalled at the arrogance of our rightwing media, given the way he goes after “The Jupiter” in “The Warden.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anthony Trollope, anti-Muslims, Charlie Hebdo, Paris massacre, Rupert Murdoch, Warden | Comments closed

After Paris: Dryden on Dangers of Hysteria

By Robin Bates | Published: January 14, 2015

In “Absolom and Architophel,” Dryden warns against unscrupulous figures exploiting the hysteria following plots like the Paris massacre.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Absolom and Architophel, anti-Muslims, Charlie Hebdo, John Dryden, Paris massacre, Terrorism | Comments closed

Grendel in Paris

By Robin Bates | Published: January 13, 2015

As with other mass killings, “Beowulf” has lessons for the Paris massacre. Defoe and Rabelais, meanwhile, give us insight in the targeted satirical journal “Charlie Hebdo.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beowulf, Charlie Hebdo, Daniel Defoe, Gargantua, Lucille Clifton, Rabelais, satire, Shortest Way with Dissenters, Terrorism | Comments closed

Count to Five-and-Twenty, Tattycoram

By Robin Bates | Published: January 12, 2015

Working with my grandson’s during a meltdown brought to mind the strategy used to calm Tattycoram in “Little Dorrit.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Charles Dickens, early childhood education, executive function, Little Dorrit, temper tantrums | Comments closed

And God Said, “That’s Good”

By Robin Bates | Published: January 11, 2015

James Weldon Johnson’s version of the Genesis creation story accords with some contemporary theological theories of God.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "The Creation", Bible, creation story, Genesis, James Weldon Johnson, Johnson (James Weldon) | Comments closed