Category: American cantos
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Faith in an Age of Fear
Today 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 fold.
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The Mongrel Dogs at Sea (12): From Arizona to Missouri
Seven 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 case your command of…
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Where’s Our Rosie?
For 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 she represented not…
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From 2001 October 7: I Want to Speak Now
2001 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…
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And the Sky Swept Clear of Angels : 9/11, 5 Years, and Lost Worlds
Though 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 transported back…
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The Dignity of Labor
Today 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 doing any.…
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… If You Can Keep It
It’s a truism that’s become so trite it hardly rises to the level of a bumper sticker: Freedom isn’t free. You see it slapped across the back of SUVs, taped to the windows in Circle-K’s. Some days, it seems everyone can mouth the words but nobody understands them. Freedom isn’t free. It has always carried…