Sci-fi writer Ursula K. LeGuin recently wrote to the Oregonian complaining that it fails to understand that “federal” land means all our land. It’s a vision she also communicates in her utopian classic “The Dispossessed.”
Monthly Archives: January 2016
LeGuin Attacks Federal Land Seizure
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Ammon Bundy, Dispossessed, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, rightwing militants, Ursula K. LeGuin Comments closed
Has America Become a Lion for Peace?
From having destabilized the world with the invasion of Iraq, America is becoming a force for peace with the Iranian peace accord. The turnaround reminds me of the evangelical lion in one of Scott Bates’s animal fables.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "St. Leo the Evangelical Lion", Iran, Iranian Peace Accord, peace, Scott Bates Comments closed
Beware Teachers That Satirize Students
Tom Layman’s “The Students” is a humorous poem but, in the end, mean-spirited. It also lets the teacher off the hook.
Black in a White World
Clint Smith’s poem captures what it can feel like to be the only black student in an otherwise all-white class.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class", Clint Smith, racism Comments closed
Mary’s Dangerous Request at Cana
In his poem about the wedding at Cana, Rilke sees Mary as a proud mother who inadvertently pushes her son towards his destiny by asking him to perform a miracle. On reflection, she realizes what she did.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Of the Marriage at Cana", Bible, Maria Rainer Rilke, Wedding at Cana Comments closed
Ted Cruz–Dark and Satanic?
When NYT columnist David Brooks called Ted Cruz “dark and satanic,” he was referencing a Blake poem. But although the allusion is apt, it struck most people as weird or offensive because they didn’t recognize the source.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Jerusalem", David Brooks, electoral politics, GOP primary, Marco Rubio, politics, Ted Cruz, William Blake Comments closed
Becoming the Land’s People Is Hard
Barack Obama in his 2016 State of the Union Address talked about the difficult task of creating an America that upholds our highest values. Robert Frost talks of the challenge in his poem “The Gift Outright.”
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
British and American Fantasy Contrasted
An “Atlantic” article argues that British fantasy is richer than American fantasy. I agree that they are different and that there are interesting reasons for those differences–but that American fantasy is vibrant as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, Edgar Allan Poe, fantasy, J. R. R. Tolkien, Kenneth Grahame, Lord of the Rings, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen King, wind in the willows Comments closed
The Singular “They” Is Here to Stay
The singular “they” is on the verge of becoming accepted in formal writing. It’s a development I approve of (if language never changed, I should have said “of which I approve”), and to celebrate I share a Philip Levine poem that makes imaginative use of the word “they.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "They Come They Lion", Grammar, Philip Levine, singular they Comments closed
