In which I reflect on roads not taken in my career.
Monthly Archives: June 2023
Reflecting on Career Paths Not Taken
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Garden of Forking Paths", "Road Not Taken", careers, Carleton College, Jorge Luis Borges, Robert Frost Comments closed
Cardiac Alert: Nostalgia & a Forsyte Feast
A description of a “Forsyte feast” in “Man of Property” takes me back to the dinners of my childhood.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy, leg of lamb, Man of Property Comments closed
Prigozhin Didn’t Take the Tide at the Flood
Did Prigozhin disregard Brutus’s advice, failing to take the tide when it was at its flood? If so, he might come to regret it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Hamlet, Insurrection, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, unsuccessful coup, Vladimir Putin, William Shakespeare, Yevgeny Prigozhin Comments closed
We Need Disturbing Lit If We Are to Grow
If we want literature to improve our lives, often we must read–and teach–works that unsettle.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bluest Eye, C.S. Lewis, cancel culture, Cat's Eye, censorship, Clansman, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Light in August, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lottery, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson, Thomas Dixon, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner Comments closed
Moriarty and SCOTUS’s Dark Web
The Moriarty of America’s judicial system is Leonard Leo, who keeps a low profile as he links SCOTUS justices with rightwing billionaires.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Clarence Thomas, corruption, Final Problem, Leonard Leo, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Sherlock Holmes Comments closed
Poems that Celebrate Long Marriages
Two poems to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, by Kunitz and Fanthorpe.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Atlas", "River Merchant's Wife", "Sonnet 116", "Touch Me", "When You Are Old", 50th marriage anniversary, Ezra Pound, Marriage, Relationships, Stanley Kunitz, U.A. Fanthorpe, W.B. Yeats, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Man of Property and the Dobbs Decision
In Galsworthy’s “Man of Property,” Soames sees his wife as property. With its Dobbs decision, meanwhile, the Supreme Court sees women similarly.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Dante, Dobbs decision, fourth circle of hell, Inferno, John Galsworthy, Supreme Court, women as property Comments closed
Ukraine: What Would Leo and Fyodor Do?
Dostoevsky and Tolstoy’s novels work as indictments of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Anna Karenina, Brothers Karamazov, Child Abuse, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hadji Murat, Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, sadism, Vladimir Putin, War and Peace Comments closed
