Monthly Archives: July 2023

Anti-Vaxxers Ignore the Past

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2023

Anti-vaxxers should read 19th century novels, which describe high mortality rates

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "University Hospital Boston", anti-vaxxers, Birds' Christmas Carol, Bleak House, Charlotte Bronte, Childbirth, Cholera, Daniel Defoe, Jane Eyre, Journal of the Plague Year, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Mary Oliver, Nemesis, Oliver Twist, Philip Roth, plague, Polio, Robert Kennedy Jr., Scarlet Fever, Secret Garden, Small Pox, Turberculosis, typhus | Comments closed

Soames: Sacrifice Mother, Not Baby

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2023

Soames Forsyte, who sees his wife as property, would rather sacrifice his wife than abort his baby–suggesting that right to life may be more about right to property.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Abortion, abortion debate, Forsyte Saga, In Chancery, John Galsworthy, Late term abortions | Comments closed

MacDonald’s Loving Vision of Christ

By Robin Bates | Published: July 8, 2023

George MacDonald’s Christian vision comes through clearly in “Sir Gibbie,” a wondrous tale of a mute boy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Calvinism, Congregationalism, George MacDonald, Sir Gibbie, theology | Comments closed

It’s World Chocolate Day–Treat Yourself!

By Robin Bates | Published: July 6, 2023

Today being World Chocolate Day, I quote liberally from Joanne Harris’s novel “Chocolat.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Chocolat, chocolate, Easter, Joanne Harris, Lent, World Chocolate Day | Comments closed

Boys That Don’t Fit the Gender Stereotype

By Robin Bates | Published: July 5, 2023

Georgia has fired a teacher for sharing “My Shadow Is Purple,” thus denying her kids a narrative that they urgently need to hear.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged authoritarianism, Boy in a Dress, censorship, David Williamson, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Katherine Rinderle, L. Frank Baum, Land of Oz, LGBTQ+ issues, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Milt Diamond, My Shadow Is Purple, Stuart Scott, Supergirl, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Lindsey Graham as Willy Loman (or Not)

By Robin Bates | Published: July 4, 2023

Studying Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman” can help us understand Trump politicians.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Donald Trump, George Orwell, Lindsey Graham, politicians, Trump enablers | Comments closed

Hughes’s Message More Urgent Than Ever

By Robin Bates | Published: July 3, 2023

Langston Hughes’s call for us to return to the vision expressed in the “Declaration of Independence” is more timely than ever.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Let America Be America Again", authoritarianism, Fascism, July 4th, Langston Hughes, Supreme Court hearings | Comments closed

Affirmative Action & Lessons in Chemistry

By Robin Bates | Published: July 2, 2023

Garmus’s “Lessons in Chemistry” indirectly exposes the ignorance of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Elegy on a Country Churchyard", affirmative action, Bonnie Garmus, Clarence Thomas, Feminism, Joy Reid, Lessons in Chemistry, Thomas Gray, Title IX | Comments closed

Why Jesus Used Parables

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2023

Why did Jesus use parables? Because fiction is more powerful than straight exposition.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Tell all the truth but tell it slant", C.S. Lewis, Emily Dickinson, Jesus, Lectio Divina, Parables, Queen Elizabeth I, Rob MacSwain, theology, Wolfgang Iser | Comments closed