Shock strategies by anti-abortionists may work on Congress but are less likely to work on women. As the body poems of Lucille Clifton demonstrate, women already know much more about their bodies than Congressmen do.
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Clifton, Abortion, & Respecting Women
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "lost baby poem", Abortion, anti-abortion movement, Lucille Clifton, Planned Parenthood, pro-choice movement Comments closed
Trump & GOP Tax Plans: All Humbug
Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush have all presented tax plans that claim to be populist even as they mainly benefit the wealthy. The Wizard of Oz would feel right at home in their company.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, election politics, GOP tax plans, Jeb Bush, L. Frank Baum, Marco Rubio, Wizard of Oz Comments closed
Tolstoy and Climate Change Denial
The denial of the citizens of Moscow as Napoleon approaches the city, described by Tolstoy in “War in Peace,” resembles climate change denialism.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged climate change, climate change denialism, Environmentalism, global warming, GOP, Leo Tolstoy, politics, War and Peace Comments closed
Germany vs. Greece, a Greek Tragedy
Novelist Tim McCarthy argues that the economic collision between Germany and Greece reenacts a number of the classic Greek tragedies, most notably “Oedipus” and “The Oresteia.” But Athena may not intervene in this instance.
Jane Eyre: 1st Discipline, Then Love
To find love, Jane must first undergo a stern, self-denying discipline. Then she must let go of the discipline and follow her heart. She turns to a challenging passage from the Book of Mark to set off on that journey.
Yogi’s Yogi-isms: “Sheer Poetry”
Along with his Hall of Fame baseball career, Yogi Berra can be credited with adding to our list of rhetorical devices.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged baseballm malapropism, rhetorical devices, Yogi Berra, yogi-ism, yogism Comments closed
Pope Francis as Shaw’s St. Joan
Christianity is all very well in its place, but when Pope Francis comes to America counseling a dismantling of capitalism, he gets the same response that Joan of Arc does in “St. Joan.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged George Bernard Shaw, GOP, Pope Francis, poverty, St. Joan Comments closed
Lit Classics, Our Most Valuable Friends
Wayne Booth compares our relationship with books to our relationships with friends. Just as we can judge whether a friendship is good for us, so can we do so with a literary work.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Company We Keep, Ethics, ethics of fiction, reader response, Wayne Booth Comments closed
The Abortion Debate & Doll’s House
Our society’s impasse over abortion is like the impasse in Ibsen’s “Doll’s House” between Thorvald and Nora: he insists on moral absolutes, she resents being infantilized.
