Monthly Archives: October 2017

How Moliere Is Saving France

By Robin Bates | Published: October 20, 2017

Moliere is helping French PM Macron steer a sane middle road between rightwing and leftwing purists.

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Atwood’s Year of the Flood–Our Future?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2017

Atwood lays out the social devastation that can arise from extreme climate events in “Year of the Flood.” Some of her predictions are starting to come true.

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Trump, 4 Dead Soldiers, & Col. Cathcart

By Robin Bates | Published: October 18, 2017

Trump handled the death of the four Green Berets who died in Niger like Col. Cathcart in “Catch-22” would have. A better model would be Ned Stark in “Game of Thrones.”

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Three Poems for Surviving Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: October 17, 2017

Hope is needed in the face to emotional exhaustion over Trumpism. Here are three poems about finding hope in dark times.

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GOP Releases Catch-22 on Gun Control

By Robin Bates | Published: October 16, 2017

To avoid doing anything about the bump stock that Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock used, the GOP has invoked Catch-22.

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A Positive Spin on the Golden Calf

By Robin Bates | Published: October 15, 2017

Rabbi Jacob Staub’s account of the golden calf is much different, and a lot more fun, than the Exodus version.

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How Nazis Used Art’s Soft Power

By Robin Bates | Published: October 13, 2017

Hitler and Mussolini took the arts seriously and tried to use them to extend their power. They had mixed results.

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Will Warm Days Never Cease?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 12, 2017

Changes in climate can cause us to see classic poems in a new light. Case in point: Keats’s “To Autumn.”

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Brother Fire Ravages California

By Robin Bates | Published: October 11, 2017

Louis MacNeice captures what northern California is experiencing in “Brother Fire.” The poem also reveals a disturbing dark side in how we respond to catastrophe.

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