In “Loves and Fishes” David Whyte pushes against the information age by pleading for poetry’s respect for language. “One good word is bread for a thousand,” he writes. A “Washington Monthly” columnist quotes President Obama with a good candidate for that word.
Tag Archives: Barack Obama
“We the People,” Nourishing Words
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Loaves and Fishes", David Whyte, Declaration of Independence | Comments closed
Dostoevsky Explains Trump’s Appeal
Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor helps explain Donald Trump’s popularity: people want certainty more than they want freedom of thought.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Brothers Karamazov, David Frum, Donald Trump, Fyodor Dostoevsky, GOP primaries, Grand Inquisitor, jamelle Bouie | Comments closed
Is Freedom More Powerful than Fear?
Obama in his Oval Office speech on terrorism said that “freedom is more powerful than fear.” Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor would beg to differ.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Brothers Karamazov, Donald Trump, Fascism, Fear, For the Time Being, Freedom, Fyodor Dostoevsky, W. H. Auden | Comments closed
Conspiracy Theories Explained
Why do conspiracy theories thrive? Because people can’t face up to the emptiness that would come with a real explanation. Thomas Hardy understands the phenomenon in his poem “Hap.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Hap", conspiracy theories, GOP rightwing, Thomas Hardy | Comments closed
We Risk Becoming Grendel’s Mother
In reaction to the horrors of the Paris massacres, we are in danger of becoming consumed by the vengeful grief of Grendel’s Mother. The times call upon us to be Beowulf strong.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, GOP presidential candidates, Grendel's mother, ISIS, Terrorism | Comments closed
Tolstoy Calls Us to Aid Syrian Refugees
During the evacuation of Moscow in “War and Peace,” the Rostov family gives up their worldly goods to help soldiers in distress. This is much more than many in the U.S. are willing to do for Syrian refugees.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Leo Tolstoy, refugee crisis, refugees, Syrian refugees, War and Peace | Comments closed
An ABC of Our Attack on the Earth
In his “ABC of Radical Ecology,” Scott Bates sets forth an alphabet primer for various environmental ills.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "A Was America", climate change, Environment, global warming, Scott Bates | Comments closed
Obama’s Eulogy & Beloved’s Baby Suggs
Commentator Melissa Harris-Perry quoted from “Beloved” following Obama’s Charleston eulogy. The passage she chose helps explain the power of the speech.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beloved, Charleston killings, Charleston shooting, gun violence, racism, Toni Morrison | Comments closed
No Room in This House for Two “I”s
A Rumi parable speaks to the recent killings in Kuwait City and Charleston. It shares certain themes with Barack Obama’s Friday eulogy to Reverend Pinckney.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Charleston shooting, Kuwait City massacre, Ramadan, Rumi, Terrorism | Comments closed
