Several months ago, there was a story in the New York Times entitled “Two Decades in Solitary” recounting the story of Willie Bosket, who has spent 23 hours a day for the last 20 years in a 9×6 cell… all alone. I had intended to write a post about that story then, because I was…
Read MoreI hope you’re not one of those people who already felt vulnerable and exposed by having to remove your shoes and belt in the airport security check, because things are about to get a lot worse for you. According to William Saletan over at Slate, the Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA) has revised its position…
Read MoreIn the spirit of hope, resurrection and mid-life second chances that the Easter story promises, here’s a little glimpse into one great day in the the life of Susan Boyle. Can I have a napkin, please?
Read MoreJust go ahead and file this away in the “Amazing Adventures in Double Entendre” File. In an attempt to resuscitate the revolutionary patriotism of Bostonians circa 1773, FOXNews and the Republican Party are calling on their constituents to organize their own April 15th “Tea Party” to protest President Obama’s tax policies. What’s more, they’ve also…
Read MoreA long time ago, as an undergraduate, I took a course on contemporary American literature that included several texts by John Barth, including The End of the Road (1958, revised 1967). I was in the full glory days of my existentialist period at the time, so Barth’s The End of the Road and the twin…
Read MoreAhhhh, Texas. Turns out their legislature is considering allowing students over 21 to carry concealed guns on campus. Supporters say that there’s good reason for this manifestly ridiculous idea, of course, citing the tragedy at Virginia Tech almost two years ago and, I suppose, the fact that there weren’t enough armed students to make that…
Read MoreThe image to the left is a postcard that someone sent to PostSecret, an online website that asks people to write their “secrets” on one side of a postcard and mail them in anonymously. (I’ve written about PostSecret before on this blog.) It is the brainchild of Frank Warren, who now travels all over the…
Read MoreI attended Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s lecture “Some Through the Fire! Some Through the Flood!” last night at the University of Memphis as part of the conference “The Obama Phenomenon: Race and Political Discourse in the United States Today.” I have to admit that I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Like most Americans, the only…
Read MoreI’m attending the much-anticipated conference at the University of Memphis this weekend, “The Obama Phenomenon: Race and Political Discourse in the United States Today.” The keynote address is this evening and is being delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Our local news broadcasts have done all they could in the past week to stir up controversy…
Read MoreAs compromises go, this doesn’t seem to be a good one: the State Board of Education in Texas recently approved its science curriculum standards, which Board members describe as “a compromise between those who are critical of teaching evolutionary theories without scrutiny and those who feared attacks on evolution would lead to the teaching of…
Read More
Recent Comments