With another mass shooting, this one closer to home, I once again invoke “Beowulf.”
Tag Archives: mass shootings
Debunking Cherished Myths
In Brecht’s “Galileo,” we see how myths blind us to facts. Consider the the wild west myth that a only good guy with a gun will take down a bad guy with a gun.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bertolt Brecht, Galileo, gun epidemic, gun safety, NRA, school shootings, Uvalde shootings Comments closed
Massacre Machinery & Slaughterhouse 5
Kurt Vonnegut, one who has seen the horrors of war, was a passionate opponent of guns in civilian hands.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged gun violence, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five Comments closed
When Evil Quotes Dylan Thomas
Tuesday High school English teacher extraordinaire Carl Rosin has several times contributed essays to Better Living through Beowulf, usually writing about his students grappling with ethical issues through a literary lens. (Carl recently served on the National Humanities Center Teacher Advisory Council.) In today’s post we learn about his class exploring what it means for […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night", Christchurch massacre, Dylan Thomas Comments closed
Racism, Traveler of Darkness
Spiritual Sunday When Dylan Roof walked into a Charleston Sunday School class and gunned down those who had welcomed him in, South Carolina poet Marcus Amaker composed the following poem. God may seem absent when hatred opens fire upon innocents, as occurred once again yesterday in El Paso, but Amaker finds hope in the belief […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Black Cloth", Charleston shooting, El Paso shooting, gun violence, Marcus Amaker Comments closed
Children Leading the Way on Gun Control
The young people helping America rediscover decency concerning guns resemble Mary and Colin in “The Secret Garden.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Francis Hodgson Burnett, gun control, March for Our Lives, Secret Garden Comments closed
NRA Uber Alles
Scott Bates “unloads” on the NRA in a poem which never goes out of date.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ballad of the National Rifle Association", Parkland Florida shooting, school shootings, Scott Bates Comments closed
Grendel Strikes in Orlando
In what has become a grim tradition for this blog, I rerun my post on Grendelian violence in response to the Orlando mass killing at a gay bar.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Beowulf poet, Omar Mateen, Orlando mass shooting Comments closed
This Time Grendel Chose Umpqua
Every time there is another mass killing, this time at Umpqua Community College, I turn to “Beowulf.” Few works understand such violence as well as this medieval Anglo-Saxon epic.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Ceremony, Charles Harper Mercer, gun control, Leslie Marmon Silko, NRA, serial killers, Umpqua College shooting Comments closed
