Monthly Archives: March 2015

Milne’s Old Sailor & ADD

By Robin Bates | Published: March 20, 2015

A. A. Milne’s “Old Sailor” is an accurate description of adult Attention Deficit Disorder.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Old Sailor", A. A. Milne, ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Mental Illness | Comments closed

Violating Political Norms Exacts a Price

By Robin Bates | Published: March 19, 2015

Those who break political norms must keep in mind the lessons of Bolingbroke’s rebellion in Richard II.

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Don’t Shoot the Truth Tellers

By Robin Bates | Published: March 18, 2015

Should we tell the truth if it undermines a social movement? Borges sets up the question, Jonathan Capehart, looking at the Ferguson shooting, provides an answer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ferguson Missouri, Ferguson protests, hands up don't shoot, intellectual honesty, Jorge Luis Borges, Theme of the Hero and the Traitor | Comments closed

Yeats & Ireland’s World of Faery

By Robin Bates | Published: March 17, 2015

Yeats’ “Stolen Child” longs for the lost world of faery but also finds something precious in the here and now world of Ireland.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Stolen Child", fantasy, Ireland, William Butler Yeats | Comments closed

What Lemming Migrations Mean

By Robin Bates | Published: March 16, 2015

Scott Bates’ articulates existential despair in a lyrical poem about lemmings.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Wandering Lemming, existential despair, lemmings, Scott Bates | Comments closed

O’Connor’s Christianity and Racism

By Robin Bates | Published: March 15, 2015

“Artificial Nigger” can be read two ways–either as a story of sin and redemption or as a story of Whites finding unity by scapegoating Blacks. A definitive interpretation may depend on readers’ reactions.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Artificial Nigger, Flannery O'Connor, forgiveness, Good Man Is Hard to Find, Grace, Lent, racism, salvation | Comments closed

Would I Were in Grantchester

By Robin Bates | Published: March 13, 2015

The BBC series “Grantchester” owes its inspiration to a Rupert Brooke poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Old Vicarage: Grantchester", "Soldier", Grantchester, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, World War I | Comments closed

Lear’s Lesson: Dividing Leads to War

By Robin Bates | Published: March 12, 2015

The politics in “King Lear” are currently being played out in attempts to sabotage negotiations with Iran.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Barack Obama, Iran, King Lear, Tom Cotton, war, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

The Return of Debtor Imprisonment?!

By Robin Bates | Published: March 11, 2015

The fleecing by authorities of the Ferguson Black community, including imprisonment for debt, puts one in mind of Charles Dickens’ “Little Dorrit.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Charles Dickens, Department of Justince, Ferguson, Little Dorrit, voting | Comments closed