[NOTE: This is written in conjunction with this post on recent events on college campuses.] Robert Frost has long been one of America’s best-known poets. During his lifetime, he was also seen as a sort of folksy New Englander on … Continue reading →
A little non-political item from the NY Post: The universe shouldn’t technically exist, according to top scientists who have spent their careers trying to figure out how the beginning of everything didn’t immediately destroy itself. I believe they actually mean … Continue reading →
Joyce Carol Oates has been writing short stories and novels ever since the early 1960s. As a writer, she reminds me of Meryl Streep as an actress—that is, skillful, highly praised, prolific, versatile, and not especially appealing (to me, anyway). … Continue reading →
Today I was trying to write a post and somehow, when I tried to cut and paste something, an entire paragraph and a half that I’d previously written suddenly disappeared. And yet all I had to do was click on … Continue reading →
Megan McArdle writes: Every society is going to have those who knowingly, perhaps even joyfully, break its rules. And this is the problem with phrases like “rape culture” and “teach men not to ”¦”, which imply that transgression would stop … Continue reading →
Commenter “Big Maq” asks a question: If it were obama or clinton who made such claims [that he had passed more bills in his first seven months than most presidents had in that time] in the same circumstances, would we … Continue reading →
With the advent of tests for Downs syndrome in utero and the availability of abortion, the future of Downs syndrome as a phenomenon has become a question mark. In the country of Iceland, for example, 100% of the women carrying … Continue reading →
Euthanasia has been legal in the Netherlands since 2002, and since then the incidence of such deaths has risen to become 4.5 percent of all deaths. What’s more, the number of people availing themselves of this form of death who … Continue reading →
Commenter “Stan McQueen” wrote on the Conrad Aiken thread: I was especially touched by the inscription of “Cosmos Mariner-Destination Unknown” on his tombstone, which is in the shape of a bench.. He saw a ship by that name and looked … Continue reading →
Every now and then someone in the real (not cyber) world asks me what I do, and I tell them I write. A smaller number of people will then ask me what I write about. Because I don’t like to … Continue reading →
Yes, you read that right: someone climbed the monolith El Capitan in Yosemite without ropes, in what’s called a “free solo” ascent. That means crawling up the vertical rock face with only your hands, feet, muscles, and steely (some would … Continue reading →
Here’s a story about Ruth Madoff’s life these days. My question is: why the story, and in particular why the need to reveal where she lives? So people can harass her even more than they already do? I’ve written about … Continue reading →