Tag Archives: Time

Crusoe and the American Work Ethic

By Robin Bates | Published: February 16, 2022

A Pakistani student looks at Americans and notes their obsession with time. One can see that same obsession in Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Daniel Defoe, Dickory Cronke, Max Weber, Pakistan, prosperity theology, Protestant work ethic, R. H. Tawney, Robinson Crusoe, Work | Comments closed

Celebrating the Sun

By Robin Bates | Published: June 20, 2019

Friday – Summer Solstice Cultures and civilizations since time immemorial have celebrated the summer solstice, with many magnificent works of architecture (including Stonehenge, the Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu, the Egyptian pyramids, the Mayans’ Chichen Itza, and Scotland’s Ring of Brodgar) constructed so as to mark the date. Spiritual author Starhawk discusses the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Sun", "When I Was One and Twenty", A. E. Housman, Andrew Marvell, Loveliest of Trees, summer, summer solstice, To His Coy Mistress | Comments closed

Old Friends Recall the Midnight Chimes

By Robin Bates | Published: May 12, 2019

Monday When Julia and I reunited with my senior Carleton roommates recently, I found myself thinking of the reunion that concludes Henry IV, Part II. To be sure, our memories didn’t involve loose women we had encountered in our youth. Nevertheless, there was an elegiac feel to our gathering as there is in the play. […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Henry IV Part 2, old friends, reunions, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Retirement Changes How Time Feels

By Robin Bates | Published: June 14, 2018

Terry Pratchett examines how we handle time in “Thief of Time.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged retirement, Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time | Comments closed

Alice in Standardized Education Land

By Robin Bates | Published: January 5, 2015

“Alice in Wonderland” can be read as an early attack on standardized education.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstein, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, standardized education, standardized time, Thomas Kingsley, time machines, Water Babies | Comments closed

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2014

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18–Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day–can be read as a power move.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged love, Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Using Fantasy to Take Back Time

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2014

Fantasy appeals to us as we chafe against machine-imposed reality, including machine-imposed time.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alice in Wonderland, fantasy literature, Lewis Carroll, machines, nonsense, technology | Comments closed

Time, You Old Gypsy, Will You Not Stay?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2011

Poet Ralph Hodgson compares time to a caravan that will not stop for us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Time You Old Gypsy Man", New Year's Day, Ralph Hodgson | Comments closed

Snow Days Open Up Cracks in Time

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2010

An unusually heavy snowstorm has locked us into our homes these past few days, cancelling my Monday classes and locking down the county. Years ago, in an essay I’d love to find again, an author wrote about the “found time” of a snow day. She noted that, because we normally believe we must make every […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Stopping by Woods on a Winter Evening", Nature, Robert Frost | Comments closed