Politics
[A] predictable rhetorical patterning […] haunts not just American but global discussions of Israel and Palestine. There are people wholly devoted to one side or the other who are essentially tu quoque machines who go into particular overdrive when they’re sure that their own side is morally less odious in
Chapbook
Freedom of speech in general and academic freedom in particular have always been placed under pressure or even active assault because they are, by design, uncomfortable. After all, no one needs the freedom or protection to utter comfortable pablum or to make statements which flatter the rich and powerful. Those
Books
A writer I know who has been afflicted with Long COVID has gathered a group of fellow sufferers to compile The Long Covid Reader, which promises to be an informative and insightful look into this new serious illness that societies worldwide have yet to adjust to, leaving millions of convalescents
Weeknote
§1 Categorical mis-statements Reading about the 75-year conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians can remind one of how rarely people who use the words “everybody”, “nobody”, “always”, and “never” demonstrate the credibility that would justify their use of those words. Why would another person believe that someone is familiar enough
History
One hundred and twenty-five years ago, one of my great-great-grandfathers decided to disappear. He succeeded so completely that no one in the family ever knew what became of him. Albert Gallatin Stuart was born in 1865 in Kaufman County, Texas, just southeast of Dallas. He married my great-great-grandmother in 1887,
Weeknote
§1 My favorite song of 1923 The movie is from 1951, but this achingly American song first became a hit in 1923.
Weeknote
§1 Cinematic Poe Horror rarely entertains me, but The Fall of the House of Usher looks amazing. §2 The Great Fogu A favorite professor returns to the place I remember him from so well. He loved Columbus, and Columbus loved him back. §3 COVID booster Got the latest jab. On
Weeknote
§1 Self-gullibility If you believe yourself to be one of the few non-gullible people in a world of the credulous, are you not revealing your own gullibility? To fool yourself is still to be fooled, is it not? §2 Communication takes work One obstacle to meaningful online debate: Some people
Libraries
§1 Lunar Days “As the summer turns / I seem to fall away / Gaps in the light / The Lunar Days…” §2 The Lion Sleeps Tonight Which cover version is better? Anne Reburn's five-part self-a capella? Or They Might Be Giants' rock re-intepretation (featuring Laura Cantrell)? §3 What'
Music
§1 So much for that... A headline in the February 9, 2020 New York Times: “Oregon Learns to Love a Rivalry,” about the Ducks’ new rivalry in women’s basketball with Oregon State. A headline in the August 5, 2023 New York Times: “Ever-Shrinking Pac-12 Loses Oregon and Washington to
Music
§1 A basic question “Does learning that something you have read or heard about this topic is wrong make you reassess the rest of your understanding? If not, why not?”—Unknown §2 “...I daresay a lot of other blokes felt likewise” Every now and then, something reminds me of the
Music
An AI song simulation (of "Paul McCartney" singing "Take on Me") worth a second listen! The wait is over, much sooner than I had expected. Unlike many other song simulations, this one picks a song that the singer might actually sing, and renders the performance close