A poetic reminder, by May Sarton, to remember the good times we spent with our mothers
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Jane Eyre, Teacher of the Month
To honor teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, I look at teaching as it occurs in “Jane Eyre” and “Villette.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, teachers and teaching, Villette Comments closed
On Gulliver and Biden Putting Out Fires
Disagreeable measures used to combat Covid were like Gulliver pissing on a palace fire to save the structure.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Covid, Covid masking, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, satire, vaccines Comments closed
On Comedy, Seinfeld, and Tom Jones
Seinfeld has complained that wokeness is ruining comedy. Similar complains show up in Henry Fielding’s “Tom Jones.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Brian Boone, Henry Fielding, Humor, political correctness, Seinfeld, Tom Jones, wokeness Comments closed
The Founders vs. Dostoyevsky’s Inquisitor
Christian nationalists have the same objections to democracy that Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor has to Christ’s vision.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged American Revolution, Brothers Karamazov, Christian nationalism, Declaration of Independence, Donald Trump, founding fathers, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Robert Kagan Comments closed
This Is the Time of Loves
As we are still in the Easter season, here’s a Christina Rossetti carol that captures the joy.
Blake’s Warning about Radicals
While students are right to protest Israeli violence in Gaza, the authoritarian streak in certain extremists is disturbing. Blake reveals the danger in “The Grey Monk.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Grey Monk", campus activism, Gaza, Israel vs. Hamas, William Blake Comments closed
Milton’s Sin as a Symbol for the GOP
A “Paradise Lost” phrase, delivered by the character Sin, sums up today’s GOP.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charlie Sykes, corruption, GOP, John Milton, Paradise Lost Comments closed
They Shoot Puppies, Don’t They?
Gov. Kristi Noem boasting of shooting her puppy brings to mind the tragic dog killing by Gabriel Oak in Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Adam Serwer, animal cruelty, Charlotte's Web, E. B. White, Far from the Madding Crowd, Fred Gipson, George Orwell, Harper Lee, Kristi Noem, Old Yeller, Shooting an Elephant, Thomas Hardy, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
