Putin bombing Kyev is more about proving masculinity than conducting effective military strategy. It’s like Hitler’s V-2 rockets, as described in “Gravity’s Rainbow.”
Monthly Archives: October 2022
Russian Rockets and Male Insecurity
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged bombs, Gravity's Rainbow, Russo-Ukrainian War, Thomas Pynchon, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
The Bridge on the Black Sea
The damaging of the Russian bridge to Crimea brings to mind “Bridge on the River Kwai”–although it’s closer to the movie than to the novel.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bridge on the River Kwai, Dashiell Hammett, existentialism, Maltese Falcon, Pierre Bouille, Russo-Ukraine War Comments closed
Gods Speaks through the Imagination
Jesus’s parables are exercises in imagining the kingdom of heaven come to earth.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Imagination, John Keats, John Milton, Parables, Paradise Lost, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, theology Comments closed
Indigenous Authors May Save Us
Silko’s “Ceremony” shows the way towards a climate-friendly future, if only we will listen.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Ceremony, climate change, extreme weather events, global warming, Hurricane Ian, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Leslie Marmon Silko Comments closed
My Literary Introduction to Eels
Poaching is ravaging the populations of endangered eels. I first discovered eels were edible in a C.S. Lewis novel.
When News Resembles an Onion Headline
A recent case of an American man arrested for parodying a police department elicited a supportive brief from “The Onion.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged conspiracy theories, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Modest Proposal, Onion, parody, satire Comments closed
Will Putin Use the Deplorable Word?
In Lewis’s “Magician’s Nephew,” Queen Jadis uses the “deplorable word” to end all life–not unlike Putin threatening nuclear annihilation on Ukraine.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged C.S. Lewis, Magician's Nephew, nuclear armaments, Russo-Ukrainian War, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
A Coal Poem for Attorney Woo
In an episode of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” we encounter a poem about charcoal and selflessness.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Chunk of Charcoal", "to a dark moses", Ahn Do-hyun, autism, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Feminism, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
i beg what i love and leave to forgive me
Yom Kippur is a day to ask for forgiveness so that we may leave our sins behind and begin a new. In that respect, this Clifton poem works as a Yom Kippur poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "i am running into a new year", forgiveness, High Holy Days, Lucille Clifton, Yom Kippur Comments closed
