American cantos
« Previous EntriesRecycled: What’s So Wrong About Military Tribunals, Anyway?
Thursday, November 8th, 2007Another piece written some time ago (circa 2002 January) that reads chillingly a propos today. This was written before the series of judicial rebukes to the President’s overreaching constitutional “doctrine” of unlimited executive power. Sadly, those rebukes have not rendered the points raised moot.
Waterboarding
Thursday, November 8th, 2007I don’t like me-too blogs but every once in awhile, someone writes on a topic in a way that exactly captures my own feeling, a way that I could never match, much less trump. This piece by Joe Galloway is one such.
My God, how did we come to a point when Senators [...]
Recycled: Just Wrong
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Long before this blog, I kept an equally-erratic literary journal called A Voice in the Wilderness. And while nothing written there was particularly world-shattering, I don’t want it to get lost in the mists of cyberspace. So to do my part to save the planet, I’m going to recycle and reuse that content, [...]
Alternate History: The Speech that Wasn’t
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007In preparing my second Convocation speech, I spent most of the summer at a loss. Once I had changed apartments, I sat down in earnest. Eventually, I ended up jettisoning my original effort and producing the speech as given. But in case you wonder what could have been, below I’ll post the [...]
Faith in an Age of Fear
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007Today the Hun School had its second annual Convocation to commence the year. As the current holder of the Distinguished Faculty Endowed Chair, it fell to me to present a speech. (I did this last year, too; you can find that speech online.) The text of this second speech can be found below [...]
The Mongrel Dogs at Sea (12): From Arizona to Missouri
Thursday, August 16th, 2007Seven days ago I had the opportunity to relive the American experience in the Second World War in one morning. In reverse. As part of the Regal Princess‘ stop at the port of Honolulu, I took part in a tour of the memorials to the USS Arizona and USS Missouri. In [...]
Where’s Our Rosie?
Sunday, January 14th, 2007For no particular good reason, I was trawling on the Net about Rosie the Riveter, an icon from World War II. If you don’t know about Rosie, you really should check out the Wikipedia article. Another good page on Rosie can be found at the eponymous website. I’ve always liked Rosie because [...]
From 2001 October 7: I Want to Speak Now
Monday, September 11th, 20062001 October 7:
I want to speak now.
I have wanted to speak since September 11. The words would not come. The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was, almost literally, unthinkable. And language is the substrate of thought. Scholars have often claimed that what you cannot say, you cannot think. I have learned, [...]
And the Sky Swept Clear of Angels : 9/11, 5 Years, and Lost Worlds
Monday, September 11th, 2006Though exiled to the swamps of New Jersey, I am a native New Yorker; and so this date arrives every year like a punch in the gut. I no longer think of the attacks every day, but it took 18 months before that ceased. When I do think of them, I am immediately [...]
The Dignity of Labor
Monday, September 4th, 2006Today we celebrate Labor Day for approximately the 119th time. A teacher friend of mine calls Labor Day less a holiday than a stay of execution, especially since we begin in earnest the day after. And for years people have made the joke that we celebrate labor by taking a day off from [...]
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