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Bringing an End to Bernie’s Romance
Thursday Yesterday I was listening to The New Republic’s Brian Beutler interview of Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol about Bernie Sanders and the state of the Democratic Party. In the Primary...
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We Shall Not Look Upon His Like Again
Thursday Watching the president’s amazing speech last night, I pass along a Hamlet passage that someone tweeted. Hamlet says it about his father but it may be even truer of Barack Obama: HORATIO I saw...
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Wishing Hillary Godspeed
Friday So it will be Hillary vs. the Donald battling it out in “the arena” (to quote the president quoting Teddy Roosevelt). As much as I, a dyed-in-the-wood Democrat, loved the various speeches from...
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Good Readers Make Good Presidents
Thursday Last week, drawing on a Dave Odgard Buzzfeed article about the favorite books of America’s presidents (those that had a favorite work of literature), I got through the first 150 years. (I...
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Obama Calls Upon Us To Be Wiglaf
Wednesday Listening to Barack Obama’s teary farewell speech last night, I heard him calling upon us to become Wiglafs. I write about Beowulf’s nephew–how he steps up when his king is reaching his...
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Obama’s Problematic Allusion to Atticus
Atticus leaves the courtroom Friday In Barack Obama’s farewell speech Tuesday night, he quoted one of America’s most beloved characters: the Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird. While I appreciated...
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The President Who Loved Literature
Barack Obama in Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, Iowa Tuesday Not the least of the things I will miss about Barack Obama will be his literary reflections. Since I believe, along with Jonathan...
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Poetry as a Check against Tyranny
Former National Poet Laureate Rita Dove Tuesday I find it fascinating that African American poets, descendants of people whose suffering in American history rivals only that of Native Americans, write...
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The Work of the World Is Common as Mud
Rosa Bonheur, Ploughing in the Nevernais (1849) Wednesday Washington Monthly columnist Nancy LeTourneau recently shared a wonderful Marge Piercy poem as she endorsed a slow and steady approach to...
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Obama Was Invisible to White America
Elizabeth Catlett, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man Wednesday I suggested in Monday’s blog that some of white supremacism’s resurgence can be traced to hysteria over having had a black president for eight...
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Trump, 4 Dead Soldiers, & Col. Cathcart
Balsam as Colonel Cathcart in “Catch-22” Wednesday Few novels understand the military mindset better than Catch-22. Nevertheless, I imagine that even Joseph Heller would gape at Donald Trump’s latest...
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The Dark Jinn Invade America
Tuesday A while back, while writing about 100 Years of Solitude, I speculated that electing Donald Trump may have been a case of America choosing spectacle over technocratic reason. Who wants “no...
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Wishing Hillary Godspeed
Friday So it will be Hillary vs. the Donald battling it out in “the arena” (to quote the president quoting Teddy Roosevelt). As much as I, a dyed-in-the-wood Democrat, loved the various speeches from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Good Readers Make Good Presidents
Thursday Last week, drawing on a Dave Odgard Buzzfeed article about the favorite books of America’s presidents (those that had a favorite work of literature), I got through the first 150 years. (I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obama Calls Upon Us To Be Wiglaf
Wednesday Listening to Barack Obama’s teary farewell speech last night, I heard him calling upon us to become Wiglafs. I write about Beowulf’s nephew–how he steps up when his king is reaching his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obama’s Problematic Allusion to Atticus
Atticus leaves the courtroom Friday In Barack Obama’s farewell speech Tuesday night, he quoted one of America’s most beloved characters: the Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird. While I appreciated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The President Who Loved Literature
Barack Obama in Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, Iowa Tuesday Not the least of the things I will miss about Barack Obama will be his literary reflections. Since I believe, along with Jonathan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Poetry as a Check against Tyranny
Former National Poet Laureate Rita Dove Tuesday I find it fascinating that African American poets, descendants of people whose suffering in American history rivals only that of Native Americans, write...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Work of the World Is Common as Mud
Rosa Bonheur, Ploughing in the Nevernais (1849) Wednesday Washington Monthly columnist Nancy LeTourneau recently shared a wonderful Marge Piercy poem as she endorsed a slow and steady approach to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obama Was Invisible to White America
Elizabeth Catlett, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man Wednesday I suggested in Monday’s blog that some of white supremacism’s resurgence can be traced to hysteria over having had a black president for eight...
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