Frost may allude to the belief that we become more conservative as we age, but his own poetry refutes the claim.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: racism
Growing More Liberal as We Age
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "I Never Dared Be Radical When Young", Aging, Birches, Robert Frost, tolerance Comments closed
The Healing Power of Talking about Race
Race, as we learned from watching a play based on student experiences with the subject, is more painful when we avoid it than we we confront it head-on.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Caleen Jennings, Hear and Now, St. Mary's College of Maryland Comments closed
My Memories of a Mountain Writer
May Justus, an Appalachian author who wrote children’s books and poetry, has a great poem about windy weather. Recalling it recently brought back other memories of this remarkable woman.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Winds A'Blowing", Highlander Folk School, May Justus, Nature, segregation Comments closed
Using Austen to Understand Racism
African American blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates uses Jane Austen’s villainous Fanny Dashwood to penetrate the mindset of American racists.
The Myth of Slaves as Faithful Companions
A visiting lecture on “Slaves as Loyal Confederates” reminded me of the complex relationships between black and white as they are explored by Twain and Stowe.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Harrieet Beecher Stowe, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin Comments closed
What Does a True Arab Do Now?
In “Blood,” Naomi Shihab Nye grieves the massacres of Lebanese Palestinians in a poem that calls out for us to see each other as individuals and not as racial Others.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Blood", Beiruit massacre, Naomi Shihab Nye, Palestinians, politics Comments closed
Remembering the Freedom Riders
King’s speech, not surprisingly, was the most memorable part of the weekend. At the time, he was upset at the violent race riots underway in Newark and Detroit. I remember him thundering, “Therefore I tell you, not ‘burn, baby, burn’ but ‘build, baby, build!’” and I carried those words with me into college.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Freedom Rider:Washout", Civll Rights Movement, James Emmanuel, Martin Luther King Comments closed
Dance with the Enemy, Then Go Wash
Film Friday The Western, Hollywood’s quintessential genre, can tell us a lot about race relations. I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I taught John Ford’s The Searchers in my American Film class. Rewatching the movie got me thinking about the Congressional hearings on “Muslim American Radicalization,” which began yesterday. I will have more […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Film, Islam, John Ford, John Wayne, Searchers, Westerns Comments closed
Mexican-U.S. Relations: A Touch of Evil
Film Friday I have been teaching an adult film class this semester in conjunction with a fascinating exhibit on fences that our college’s art gallery has mounted with help from the Smithsonian Museum. My contribution is to exhibit and talk about films that focus on fences, walls, and other types of boundaries. This past Tuesday […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Mexican border, Orson Welles, politics, Touch of Evil Comments closed