Monthly Archives: March 2023

Donald Trump and Waiting for Justice

By Robin Bates | Published: March 30, 2023

For years we have been awaiting for our own Godot, which is to say, justice for Trump. Perhaps Godot has finally shown up.

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The English Major in Crisis

By Robin Bates | Published: March 29, 2023

Is the English major dying and, if so, why. A “New Yorker” article probes the reasons for enrollment declines in the humanities.

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This Time, Grendel Chooses Nashville

By Robin Bates | Published: March 28, 2023

With another mass shooting, this one closer to home, I once again invoke “Beowulf.”

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Faulkner: Racist in Life, Not in Fiction

By Robin Bates | Published: March 27, 2023

In life, Faulkner was a racist. In his fiction, he deconstructed racism brilliantly.

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The Bard vs. Big Pharma

By Robin Bates | Published: March 26, 2023

Poet Katy Giebenhain channels Shakespeare to critique Big Pharma.

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Eliot’s Search for Hope in Dry Bones

By Robin Bates | Published: March 25, 2023

T.S. Eliot conveys his spiritual desolation in “Waste Land” with references to Ezekiel’s dry bones. But, in the end, there’s a faint sign of hope.

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Subsisting in Layla’s Subsistence

By Robin Bates | Published: March 23, 2023

In this Ramadan poem, the Algerian Sufi mystic Ahmad al-Alawi uses erotic imagery to capture the relationship between humans and God.

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Faulkner’s Sanctuary, Trump’s Charges

By Robin Bates | Published: March 22, 2023

Reading Sanctuary while awaiting a Trump indictment is a good counterweight to facile optimism. In Faulkner’s world, the courts can’t save us.

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Some in GOP Love Child Labor

By Robin Bates | Published: March 21, 2023

Some in the GOP want to bring back child labor. Kingsolver, Dickens and Browning weigh in on the subject.

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