Monthly Archives: May 2019

The School Where I Studied as a Boy

By Robin Bates | Published: May 9, 2019

Friday As I will miss my first St. Mary’s commencement in almost four decades tomorrow (excluding sabbatical years), I send out this Yehuda Amichai poem to my former students who will be graduating, as well as to all those others around the world about to matriculate. It’s that time of year when, like the Israeli […]

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Grendel’s Mother, Archetype of Grief

By Robin Bates | Published: May 8, 2019

Thursday I report today on a memorable encounter I had with an African American alum upon my first post-retirement return to St. Mary’s College of Maryland. I was talking with a former colleague when Candace looked in and began reminiscing. I didn’t recognize her, even after she told me her name, but something clicked when […]

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GOP: Ignore the Trump behind the Screen

By Robin Bates | Published: May 7, 2019

Wednesday The GOP right now appears to be taking its cue from the Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to what’s in the Mueller report, they tell us. It’s time to move on. Neither Donald Trump, Senate Judicial Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, nor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell want Robert Mueller to testify before Congress […]

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Rich Bullies in the Admissions Scandal

By Robin Bates | Published: May 6, 2019

Tuesday Several weeks ago I came across an insider’s account of the college admissions scandal from an English-teacher-turned-college counselor. In sharing her view of prep school parents, Caitlin Flanagan cited Jane Eye and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Although Flanagan doesn’t report on any illegal behavior from the ambitious parents she encountered, she daily saw the […]

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Diving into May’s Spiritual Honey

By Robin Bates | Published: May 5, 2019

Monday I was traveling yesterday so here’s a Mary Oliver poem I’ve shared before, once in connection with Pentecost (here). Note how Oliver derives spiritual sustenance from nature, even as she simultaneously emphasizes “the flourishing of the physical body.” For Oliver, there is no separation between the physical and the spiritual realms. May May, and […]

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My Star Shines in the Firmament

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2019

Spiritual Sunday – Ramadan Today being the first day of the month when Muslims purify themselves through fasting and prayer to come closer to God, I share a poem by the Algerian Sufi mystic Ahmad al-Alawi. The poem calls to mind Song of Solomon, which uses erotically charged imagery to capture (so it has been […]

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The Danger of Normalizing Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: May 2, 2019

Friday Recently the Washington Post reported that Trump just told his ten thousandth lie, a fact that barely raised eyebrows since we have become inured to his incessant falsehoods. Bertolt Brecht describes the normalization process in “When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain.” Imagine that you’re hearing the 10,000th lie for the first time–which is to […]

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Using Jane Austen to Dissect AG Barr

By Robin Bates | Published: May 1, 2019

Thursday The drama surrounding the Mueller Report continues to become more postmodern with every passing day. Or rather, the Trump administration has been trying to render it so. To highlight how Attorney General William Barr is throwing up smokescreens, I turn to my favorite passage from Sense and Sensibility. First, however, let’s note that the […]

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