Tag Archives: Romeo and Juliet

Chicago’s Roman de la Rose

By Robin Bates | Published: May 14, 2011

What’s in a name? Would Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose by any other name smell as sweet?

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A Plague on Both Your Houses!

By Robin Bates | Published: April 6, 2011

“A plague on both your houses!” So I found myself venting at both Christian and Muslim zealots as I heard the recent news in Afghanistan. In this case, the Montagues were Pastor Terry Jones and his fundamentalist followers who burned a Koran in South Carolina while the Capulets were the fundamentalist Muslims (a crowd exiting a mosque) who attacked and killed United Nations workers in Afghanistan.

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American TV, the World’s English

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2010

Image from Poltergeist  I am pleased that Jason Blake, who teaches English at the University of Ljubljana, is becoming a regular contributor to this website. As an English speaker living in Slovenia, Jason is particularly sensitive to questions of language. In the following essay he triggers memories for me when he talks about how television, […]

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After the Mess, Can Obama Be Fortinbras?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 27, 2010

I’ve been thinking recently about how every Shakespearean tragedy concludes with a restoration of order.  The stage may be strewn with corpses and the spectator’s heart may have broken into a thousand little pieces, but (as though to provide some reassurance) someone steps forward at the end to set things straight. In Hamlet it is […]

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