It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror — of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he…
Posts tagged thoreau
Our Whimpering World
Listen, recently we have discovered that the Obama Administration is negotiating in secret with other nations to create a “trade” agreement that will circumvent, override, trump, all other types of “agreements.” This means any and…
Iniquitous Airy Abstraction, or The Lawyer’s Truth
Having neither the wherewithal nor the erudition (nor the patience, nor expectation of readership) to craft a cogent article on the fact that Western civilization as represented by governments and ideologies serving “manifest destiny” as…
Sounding Texts: My American Literature
A further edit upon “My Favorite Book.” It grows. A friend asked me recently to name a favorite book. This is nearly impossible to me as I rarely find whole books satisfying throughout and prefer…
Not My Favorite Book
Updated and revised (4/18, 11:29 a.m.) Another version of “My Favorite Book.” Not My Favorite Book A favorite book? I don’t have one. To be sure, you might ask tomorrow and get a different response. …
My Favorite Book
On a job application for a teaching position one is asked to write a one-page essay on “my favorite book.” Here’s what I’ve got. Thoughts? Do you have a favorite? If so, can you let…
Circus Freaks by Design
Not long ago, one our most compromised academics (by that I mean paid shill), Jay P. Greene, posted to his blog an abstract to a journal article about “fellatio narratives” in order to point out…
The Dystopian Immorality of The Hunger Games
So, I’ve finished The Hunger Games. The trilogy. I’m not sure what to say about it. I found it always vaguely unsatisfying and too easy with its killing. It tries to subvert this by the…
Indubitably? The Philosophy of Inaction
First, let me confess to being at best an amateur as regards the study of philosophical texts and at times perhaps the worst sort of dilettante regarding that discipline. But, that said, I spend a…
Virtual Schools: Setting Minds Adrift on Black Ships
Excerpted below is a report from the Texas Observer’s Abby Rapoport, “Virtual Schools, Virtually Unregulated?,” about how a “virtual school” has avoided accountability in order to avoid being a, well, school. At this point, the…