Playing poker involves taking constant risks. But so does a life well-lived and, for that matter, so does writing a novel. Novelist Rachel Kranz explains.
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Trump’s “Truth” Is Like Big Brother’s
Like Orwell’s Big Brother, Donald Trump has been allowed to define truth. We’re all paying for it.
Listening for the Still Small Voice
Today, as we memorialize my mother-in-law, a simple Charles Wesley poem about how God talks to us through a “still small voice” seems particularly powerful.
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
King’s Clown Rampaged in Orlando
Perhaps more than any other American writer, Stephen King understands such incidents as the Orlando massacre. The famous horror writer dreams America’s nightmares and appears prescient when they come true.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beowulf, Grendel, gun violence, It, John Milton, mass murder, Omar Mateen, Orlando killings, Paradise Lost, Stephen King Comments closed
Women vs. Unicorns in Poker, on Dates
In an blog post on the difficulties of handling male aggression, novelist Rachel Kranz looks at male behavior at poker tables, the mythology of virgins taming unicorns, and the rape perpetrated by Stanford swimmer Brock Turner.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Brock Turner, Feminism, misogyny, Once and Future King, Poker, Rachel Kranz, Rape, rape sentencing, Sexism, T. H. White Comments closed
What Draws Kids to Eating Dramas
Eating stories enthrall my grandchildren because they reenact the childhood drama of separating from the parents and developing autonomous selves.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Children's Hour", child development, Children, Eric Carle, Helen Bannerman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Little Black Sambo, Very Hungry Caterpillar Comments closed
Grendel Strikes in Orlando
In what has become a grim tradition for this blog, I rerun my post on Grendelian violence in response to the Orlando mass killing at a gay bar.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beowulf, Beowulf poet, mass shootings, Omar Mateen, Orlando mass shooting Comments closed
I Am a Glory That Cannot Unshine Itself
Clare Hogan’s poem about St. Teresa describes the saint shedding layer after layer until she becomes a “sheet of sunlight.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged ecstatic poetry, Hogan (Clare), St. Teresa, union with the divine Comments closed
