Monthly Archives: July 2018

Sleeping Outdoors

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2018

Poetry adds an extra dimension to sleeping outdoors.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Adam's Curse", "Fern Hill", "Poem in October", "Sleeping in the Forest", "Song of the Open Road", "Stopping by the Woods on a Showy Evening", After Apple-Picking, Anam Cara, Dylan Thomas, John O'Donohue, Mary Oliver, Nature, Robert Frost, sleep, Walt Whitman, William Butler Yeats | Comments closed

How To Cross Trump’s Swamp

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2018

Trump promised to “drain the swamp” but is proving to be perhaps our most corrupt president. Mary Oliver’s “Crossing the Swamp” captures the feelings of many.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Crossing the Swamp", corruption, Donald Trump, draining the swamp, Mary Oliver | Comments closed

Milton: Sex as a Holy Sacrament

By Robin Bates | Published: July 8, 2018

Spiritual Sunday My wife has been researching her Moravian past prior to a heritage trip to the Czech Republic and other important Moravian way stations in the trek to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Julia’s ancestors landed. Some of these ancestors were missionaries who made their way to Grace Hill, Iowa, where Julia grew up. Julia reported […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Count Zinzendorf, John Milton, Moravians, Paradise Lost, sexuality | Comments closed

Howl’s Empowerment Drama

By Robin Bates | Published: July 6, 2018

In “Howl’s Moving Castle,” Diana Wynne Jones breaks free of confining fantasy narratives.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Diana Wynne Jones, empowerment, Feminism, Howl's Moving Castle | Comments closed

Donald Trump as Saruman

By Robin Bates | Published: July 5, 2018

Like Saruman, Trump isn’t interested in traditional alliances but wants to link up directly with Sauron (a.k.a. Vladimir Putin).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America-Russia relations, Donald Trump, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Senate Intelligence Committee, Trump resistance, Vladimir Putin | Comments closed

America as a Mixed Nut Bowl

By Robin Bates | Published: July 4, 2018

In “Immigrant Picnic,” Djanikian captures the rich mixing that America’s welcoming of immigrants has given us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Immigrant Picnic, "The People Yes", Carl Sandburg, Gregory Djanikian, Immigration, July 4 | Comments closed

Lost in a Cave

By Robin Bates | Published: July 3, 2018

The scouts rescued from in a flooded cave bring to mind the Tom-Becky story in “Tom Sawyer.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Mark Twain, scouts lost in Thai cave, Tom Sawyer | Comments closed

The Declining English Major

By Robin Bates | Published: July 2, 2018

An English prof, sensing obsolescence, turns to “In Memoriam” (also Fowles, Wordsworth & Arnold).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Dover Beach", Alan Bennett, Alfred Lord Tennyson, English major, French Lieutenant's Woman, History Boys, Humanities, In Memoriam, Intimations of Immortality, John Fowles, Matthew Arnold, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Strangers Are Guides from Beyond

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2018

Rather than fear strangers, Rumi says we should welcome them in.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged immigrant children separation, Immigration, Rumi | Comments closed