Friday In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade explains to femme fatale Bridget O’Shaughnessy why he’s arresting her for the murder of Miles Archer, even though he’s madly in love with her. “When a man’s partner is killed,” he says, “he’s supposed to do something about it.” That’s essentially what Robert Mueller was telling Congress in […]
Monthly Archives: May 2019
Mueller Is Our Delphic Oracle
Thursday Robert Mueller resembles an oracle more and more with each passing day. By this I mean he makes elliptical pronouncements that frustrate people desiring a clearer statement. Trump critics hoped Mueller would forthrightly state that (a) yes, the president and his campaign encouraged and applauded Russia’s 2016 election attack and (b) that Trump has […]
Borges and the Impeachment Labyrinth
Tuesday Last week I cited a passage from Jorge Luis Borges’s “Death and the Compass” when pondering whether we are overanalyzing Donald Trump. I turn to the same story today to address whether the Democrats are overcomplicating their response to the president’s behavior. While many commentators believe launching an impeachment inquiry is a no-brainer given […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Death and the Compass, Donald Trump, impeachment, Jorge Louis Borges Comments closed
How Sleep the Brave
Memorial Day Looking back over the blog, I’m surprised that I have never posted William Collins’s “How Sleep the Brave” on Memorial Day. According to Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Collins “loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters,” and we see him merging fantasy, nature imagery, and high-minded allegory in this tribute to fallen soldiers. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Soldier Rest", "How Sleep the Brave", Memorial Day, Sir Walter Scott, war poems, William Collins Comments closed
C.S. Lewis’s Book of Revelation
Spiritual Sunday C. S. Lewis’s Last Battle draws heavily on the the Book of Revelation, which has been furnishing the lectionary readings for the last few Sundays. Even though I didn’t know this when I read it as a child, it still struck me as too didactic, at times more allegory than adventure. Therefore, although […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Book of Revelation, C. S. Lewis, Christian apocalypse, Last Battle Comments closed
Book Proximity Makes You Smart
Friday Scientific American recently reported on a study claiming that a childhood surrounded by books makes you smarter, even if you don’t actually read them. According to Karen Hopkins, Australian researchers have proved that “growing up in a home with a sizable library enhances literacy, number sense and even technological know-how in later life.” Apparently this […]
Brecht on the Rejection of Refugees
Thursday As some Americans harden their hearts against Central American immigrants, shrugging off the 2600+ children who have been separated from their parents, the six children who have died in (or immediately following) border patrol custody, and the cages in which people have been housed, we would do well to remember how in 1942 America […]
Fathers & Sons: He Goes His Way, I Mine
Wednesday The talk with my son that I described in Monday’s post reminded me of talks with my own father where I was sure he was wrong. I’ve since concluded that I was not as right as I thought I was and that our disagreements came down to our different life arcs. Our arguments came […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Blaise Pascal, Jean Paul Sartre, Rasselas, Samuel Beckett, Samuel Johnson, Ulysses, Westword Ho! Comments closed
