At a time when many of us are worried about the future, Allan Boesak reminds us that Advent is a time of hope.
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Culture Theorist Foresaw Trump’s Rise
The Frankfurt School’s Theodor Adorno, “culture industry” theorist, foresaw the rise of Trump. He looked to modernism, including modernist literature, as an antidote.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged culture industry, Don DeLillo, Donald Trump, mass culture, Theodor Adorno Comments closed
Despite Trump, “The Land Holds Us Still”
On this one-month anniversary of the 2016 election, I look back at two authors who meditated on what to do next immediately after hearing the news. Terry Tempest Williams looks to nature while Zadie Smith looks to the music to be found in multiethnic harmony.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Erosion", 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, hope, resistance, Terry Temest Williams, White Teeth, Zadie Smith Comments closed
The Magic Spell Cast by Stories
In “1Q84” Murakami describes novels as holding out the promise to solve our problems only we can’t quite make them out.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged 1Q84, Charles Dickens, children reading, Haruki Murakami, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Oliver Twist, Ozma of Oz, Twelfth Night Comments closed
Massacring the Environment Dakota Style
With a North Dakota winter bearing down on those protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, I see a convergence of images that also show up in Lucille Clifton’s poem “the killing of the trees”: environmental degradation, oppression of Native Americans, and frozen bodies.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "killing of the trees", clean water, Dakota Access Pipeline, Lakota Sious, Lucille Clifton, Standing Rock Sioux Comments closed
John the Baptist: his mouth be true as time
In Lucille Clifton’s version of John the Baptist, he is a black minister preaching the social gospel.
