Monthly Archives: July 2024

Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner

By Robin Bates | Published: July 31, 2024

Think of Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner, a conman who thinks he can trick people he’s revealed his tricks to.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2024

Kamala Harris’s big-hearted laugh puts her in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath territory. Trump is more like the Pardoner.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 29, 2024

To appreciate the opening ceremonies in the Paris Olympics, it helps to know some French literature.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 28, 2024

Gymnast GOAT Biles has a tattoo of a line from Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” to inspire her.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 27, 2024

Liskey’s version of the loaves and fishes sets the miracle at a Depression-era table.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 25, 2024

Le Guin’s “Farthest Shore” has insights applicable to the Biden-Harris succession.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 24, 2024

An MSNBC commentator cited a line from “Macbeth” to characterize Joe Biden’s decision not to run for a second term/

By Robin Bates | Published: July 23, 2024

As Trump and MAGA call for mass deportations, Shakespeare asks us to see the world from the immigrants’ point of view.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2024

After the shooting, some Trump allies wanted to believe it had softened him. And Rabbit thinks Tigger can be unbounced.