Author Archives: Robin Bates

J.D. Vance Dreams of Gilead

By Robin Bates | Published: July 17, 2024

Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance makes “Handmaid’s Tale” more timely than ever.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 16, 2024

Will a softer Trump emerge after the shooting? It’s as likely as Pap turning over a new leaf in “Huckleberry Finn.”

By Robin Bates | Published: July 15, 2024

With Republicans attempting to blame Democrats for the Trump shooting, let’s look at what Borges says about conspiracy theories.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 14, 2024

The current candidates for Trump’s V-P are behaving like Alexander Pope’s dunces.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2024

Wilde’s “Salomé” is the story of a material girl trapped in a material world.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 11, 2024

Feel depressed about Election 2024? Samuel Johnson’s “Rasselas” has some good advice.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2024

Election anxieties from listening to a seashell. That and James Stephens’s poem “The Shell.”

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2024

This William Meredith captures summer on the beach.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 8, 2024

Whittier’s poem “The Women Went from Dover foreshadows MAGA’s war on women.