Murakami’s “Wild Sheep Chase” is a modern parable that has important lessons for confronting authoritarian regimes. That’s the lesson one of my Bernie supporters took from it. Another student used it to support his decision to come out.
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Murakami: Don’t Be a Sheep
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged coming out, Donald Trump, Haruki Murakami, LBGTQ issues, Wild Sheep Chase Comments closed
There’s More to Christmas Than We Think
When fundamentalist Christians say that there is a war on Christmas, they point to secular and pagan threats. But many of the symbols they embrace are borrowed from other religions traditions, as this Scott Bates poem makes clear.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Christmas at the Courthouse", Christmas, nativity scene, Scott Bates Comments closed
Must Dreamers “Hibernate” Again?
Ellison’s Invisible Man must retreat to a hole–or, as he calls it, hibernate–after getting banged around by reality. With Trump as president, will the Dreamers and others who benefitted from Obama’s prosecutorial discretion have to hibernate as well, returning back to the shadows?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged DACA, Donald Trump, Dreamers, Immigration, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, undocumented workers Comments closed
The New Moon, A Prayer Opening to Faith
In a powerful Advent poem, David Whyte compares waning faith with the waning moon. The poem reminds me of poems by John Keats and Lucille Clifton.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Bright Star", "man who killed the bear", Advent, David Whyte, Faith, John Keats, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
For the Final, We Shall Be Tested on Love
Thomas Centolella applies the language of testing to love in this witty and moving poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "In the Evening We Will Be Examined on Love", Centolella (Thomas), exams, love, Thomas Centolella Comments closed
Harry Potter Stole My Child
Young Adult Fiction like “Harry Potter,” “Perks of Being a Wall Flower,” “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” sometimes threaten parents because they empower children and conjure up visions of them abandoning family values as they enter a secular society.
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
Invisible Man & Lolita Changed the ’50s
Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and Nabokov’s “Lolita” both challenged basic 1950s assumptions. The former changed public perceptions on what it meant to be black while the latter violated a tacit agreement not to go digging under neatly manicured lawns bordered by white picket fences.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged 1950s, aestheticism, formalism, Hans Robert Jauss, horizon of expectations, Invisible Man, Lolita, modernism, Ralph Ellison, reception theory, Richard Wright, social protest novel, Vladimir Nabokov Comments closed
Neil Gaiman and the Pipeline Protests
In “American Gods,” Neil Gaiman warns that Americans are doomed if we don’t make spiritual connection with the land. The protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline are making the same argument.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged American Gods, Dakota Access Pipeline, Donald Trump, Neil Gaiman, oil Comments closed
McConnell as Moriarty, Trump as Figaro
Mitch McConnell is proving himself to be a veritable Moriarty in his ability to weave devious plots to get his way. Trump, by contrast, is more a trickster figure a la Figaro or Mac the Knife.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Beggar's Opera, Caron de Beaumarchais, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, John Gay, Marriage of Figaro, Mitch McConnell, Moriarty, politics, Sherlock Holmes Comments closed
