Another MAGA pastor has been indicted for sexual abuse. Goldsmith’s comic poem “Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” puts the sanctimonious in their place.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
What Makes a Nation Strong? Not Fascism
Emerson’s “A Nation’s Strength” is must reading in this time of trial.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Nation's Strength", Fascism, patriotic resistance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Trumpism Leave a comment
Caught Up in a Flood of Remembrance
For an upcoming talk on growing up in Sewanee TN, I have been rummaging through old scrapbooks. A D. H. Lawrence poem captures some of the emotions I’m experiencing.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Childhood, D. H. Lawrence, Nostalgia, Piano, Sewanee TN Comments closed
Percy Shelley’s Cry for Freedom
“England in 1819,” written to protest George III and the Peterloo Massacre, sounds all too relevant today.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "England in 1819", cry for freedom, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Percy Shelley, public corruption, Trumpism Comments closed
A Mary Oliver Poem for Lent
Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” works as a Lenten poem but departs from medieval notions of what Lent involves.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Wild Geese", "For Lent 1966", Lent, Madeleine L'Engle, Mary Oliver, Nature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Comments closed
Middlemarch and Trump vs. Expertise
Incompetence wins out over expertise in Eliot’s “Middlemarch.” And so it is proving to be the case in the Trump administration.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Covid, cronyism, George Eliot, medical expertise, Middlemarch Comments closed
Beowulf’s Advice for Battling Depression
Beowulf’s advice for battling dragon depression: don’t go it alone, which itself is a dragon trait.
Böll on Desperately Clinging to the Past
Heinrich Böll’s “Christmas Not Just Once a Year” captures the yearning to return to the past that animates many Trump supporters.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christmas, Christmas Not Just Once a Year, Heinrich Böll, Nostalgia, Trumpism Comments closed
