Some say teachers should, like soldiers, should put their lives on the line. This A.E. Housman poem brings up the question of whether even soldiers should do so when there sacrifice will be meaningless.
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Tag Archives: Donald Trump
Wanted: Teachers, Not Martyrs
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Here Dead We Lie", "I Have a Rendezvous with Death", "Soldier", "Strange Meeting", A. E. Housman, Alan Seeger, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Bertolt Brecht, COVID-19, Galileo, Rupert Brooke, school reopening, teachers, Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, Wilfred Owen Comments closed
Memo to Teachers: Put Lives on Line
Trumpian disrespect for school personnel–no special emphasis on safe reopening–brings to mind Kipling’s “Tommy.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Tommy", Betsy DeVos, COVID-19, Rudyard Kipling, school reopening Comments closed
Pratchett Responds to Racist Politics
Terry Pratchett’s “Feet of Clay” argues humorously for diversity, immigration, and responsible governance.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Feet of Clay, global institutions, Immigration, Pax Americana, racism, Terry Pratchett Comments closed
Hang Together or Go Under
A James Baldwin prose poem alerts u to resources we have to resist the darkness that threatens us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Nothing Is Fixed", complacency, James Baldwin, Nothing Personal Comments closed
Trump-Graham as Dracula-Renfield
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham is to Trump what Renfield is to Dracula–and could suffer a similar fate.
Langston Hughes on Evictions
When potentially 23 million American renters facing eviction, Langston Hughes’s “Ballad of a Landlord” feels timely.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ballad of a Landlord", evictions, housing policy, Langston Hughes Comments closed
Trump’s Troops Have No Stinkin’ Badges
Trump’s special federal troops claims they need not wear identifying badges, bringing to mind the most famous line from the novel (and film) “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged B Traven, Black Lives Matter, International Customs and Border Enforcement, Portland Oregon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre Comments closed
Circle of Reason Villain Resembles Trump
Amitav Ghosh’s novel “Circle of Reason” features a wannabe autocrat who has an eerie resemblance to Donald Trump.
Mary Trump, Smiley on Nightmare Families
To see another family as dysfunctional as the one Mary Trump describes in her recent book, look to Jane Smiley’s “Thousand Acres.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged family dysfunction, Jane Smiley, King Lear, Mary Trump, Thousand Acres, Too Much and Never Enough, Trump family, William Shakespeare Comments closed