“A novel insistently demands the presence and passion of human beings, who cannot ever be labeled. Without this passion we may all smother to death, locked in those airless, labeled cells, which isolate us from each other and separate us from ourselves.” – James Baldwin, “Preservation of Innocence”
Entries from March 2018
Breathe deep the gathering gloom
March 31st, 2018 · No Comments
Tags: Lit & Crit
Same as we ever were
March 30th, 2018 · No Comments
“In good fiction, as in real life, there tend not to be sentimental heroes and cruel villains but only deeply compromised human beings who struggle with their sins and shortcomings as best they can.” – Nathaniel Rich, “James Baldwin & the Fear of a Nation”
Tags: Lit & Crit
The crux of the matter
March 29th, 2018 · No Comments
“Race was—is—the fundamental American issue, underlying not only all matters of public policy (economic inequality, criminal justice, housing, education) but the very psyche of the nation.” – Nathaniel Rich, “James Baldwin & the Fear of a Nation”
Tags: Economics · Lit & Crit · Politics & Law · The American Constitution
A powerful acid
March 28th, 2018 · No Comments
“Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.” – James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son”
Tags: Lit & Crit
It’s called racism
March 27th, 2018 · No Comments
“Police killings of unarmed black children, indifference to providing clean drinking water to a majority-black city, or efforts to curtail the voting rights of minority citizens are not freak incidents but outbreaks of a chronic national disease.” – Nathaniel Rich, “James Baldwin & the Fear of a Nation”
Tags: Economics · Lit & Crit · Politics & Law
Always
March 26th, 2018 · No Comments
“A real writer is always shifting and changing and searching.” – James Baldwin (quoted by Nathaniel Rich in “James Baldwin & the Fear of a Nation”)
Tags: Lit & Crit
Sojourning in the wilderness
March 25th, 2018 · No Comments
“Refugee camps provide food and shelter, but they do not provide political voice and agency for their populations. Global institutions do not have the power to include stateless people in political membership. This is the danger of cosmopolitan institutions—that everyone becomes a mere human body to be managed in a camp.” – Thomas Nail, “Migrant […]
Tags: Politics & Law
Drilling down
March 24th, 2018 · No Comments
“If it were in my power to change the mercantile laws of literary society, I could easily spin out my existence writing and rewriting the same story in the hope that I might end up understanding it and making it clear to others.” – Ignazio Silone (quoted by Dorothy Day in The Catholic Worker, January […]
Tags: Economics · Lit & Crit
We get what we want
March 23rd, 2018 · No Comments
“If we value democracy, if we want to live in a world marked by a vibrant public sphere that can generate the possibilities of hope and human betterment, then we need futures. Without futures, and without serious propositional clashes between different materialized futures, we have no politics, and we have no democracy. We merely have […]
Tags: Economics · Politics & Law
Helluva way to win a war
March 22nd, 2018 · No Comments
“Forget about the level of training, the implementation of draconian punitive measures or the socialization of troops – during any engagement both sides are naturally leaning towards retreat. The side whose soldiers are able to suppress that instinctive response longer is usually victorious.” – Łukasz Różycki, “Fear – Elements of Slavic ‘Psychological Warfare’ in the […]
Tags: Other Stuff · The Ancients
The luck of the draw
March 21st, 2018 · No Comments
“No identifiable form of intelligence, talent, genius, or even experience seems necessary for ruling a country. Would-be rulers do not have to pass qualifying examinations in leadership or demonstrate competence in administration or show skill in diplomacy. They do not need to have good communication skills or even be popular with their subjects. While many […]
Tags: Politics & Law
Good luck, buddy
March 20th, 2018 · No Comments
“Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I […]
Tags: Politics & Law · The American Constitution
In case you were wondering why
March 19th, 2018 · No Comments
“The industrial world destroys nature not because it doesn’t love it but because it is not afraid of it.” – Mary Ruefle, “On Fear”
Tags: Lit & Crit
First hit’s free
March 18th, 2018 · No Comments
“Seduction is the new opium of the masses. It is liberty for a world without liberty, joy for a world without joy.” – Tiqqun, Preliminary Materials for a Theory of the Young-Girl (trans. Reines)
Tags: Lit & Crit · Politics & Law
There’s no switch
March 17th, 2018 · No Comments
“Ethical people are ethical at the core. That identifies who they are. Ethics cannot be engaged and disengaged at will.” – William C. Stewart, Jr., Subrogation Recovery: Principles and Practices
Tags: Politics & Law · The American Constitution
Schooling the fish
March 16th, 2018 · No Comments
“Great pressure is brought to bear to make us undervalue ourselves. On the other hand, civilization teaches that each of us is an inestimable prize. There are, then, these two preparations: one for life and the other for death. Therefore we value and are ashamed to value ourselves, are hard-boiled. We are schooled in quietness […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Making the world go ’round
March 15th, 2018 · No Comments
“Supply is supply, and demand is demand. They will be satisfied, be it with combs, fifes, rubber, whisky, tainted meat, canned peas, sex, or tobacco. For every need there is an entrepreneur, by a marvelous providence. You can find a man to bury your dog, rub your back, teach you Swahili, read your horoscope, murder […]
Tags: Economics · Lit & Crit
Same as it ever was
March 14th, 2018 · No Comments
“I started back, choosing unfamiliar streets. They turned out to be no different from the ones I knew.” – Saul Bellow, Dangling Man
Tags: Lit & Crit
Pain is how we know we’re not dead yet
March 13th, 2018 · No Comments
“Trouble, like physical pain, makes us actively aware that we are living, and when there is little in the life we lead to hold and draw and stir us, we seek and cherish it.” – Saul Bellow, Dangling Man
Tags: Lit & Crit
Is this all?
March 12th, 2018 · No Comments
“The worlds we sought were never those we saw; the worlds we bargained for were never the worlds we got.” – Saul Bellow, Dangling Man
Tags: Lit & Crit
Point of view
March 11th, 2018 · No Comments
“All comfort in life is based upon a regular occurrence of external phenomena. The changes of the day and night, of the seasons, of flowers and fruits, and all other recurring pleasures that come to us, that we may and should enjoy them—these are the mainsprings of our earthly life. The more open we are […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
It’s not hard
March 10th, 2018 · No Comments
“The best of us will try to live by a few simple rules: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God, and never draw to an inside straight.” – Stephen Jay Gould, “The Streak of Streaks”
Tags: Lit & Crit · Science · Verandah
The sequel
March 9th, 2018 · No Comments
“It is a well known fact that, in spite of the attenuation of electromagnetic radiation produced by sea water, photosynthetic organisms thrive in the underwater ecosystem. But it is rather surprising that bacterial photosynthesis has been observed to take place deep within the Pacific Ocean, at depths in excess of 2,000 meters. This biological process […]
Tags: Other Stuff · Science
It is and isn’t
March 8th, 2018 · No Comments
“A state such as ∣ψ) is often referred as a qubit and corresponds to a unit of quantum information (in contrast to the bit, which is the unit of classical information). Clearly, bits and qubits are radically different. Bits can assume the value of 0 or 1, but once fixed, its value is unique, deterministic, […]
Tags: Other Stuff · Science
Some would say impossible
March 7th, 2018 · No Comments
“Take care not to alienate the heart by wrongs; To win it back, when it has shied away, is hard. When love is lost, this heart becomes A broken glass that cannot be repaired.” – The Arabian Nights (trans. Lyons, et al.)
Tags: Lit & Crit
No, it isn’t
March 6th, 2018 · No Comments
“The world is all swagger and deceit.” – The Arabian Nights (trans. Lyons, et al.)
Tags: Lit & Crit
Monochromitis
March 5th, 2018 · No Comments
“Whoever thinks that all women are alike is suffering from a disease of madness for which there is no cure.” – The Arabian Nights (trans. Lyons, et al.)
Tags: Lit & Crit
Learned helplessness
March 4th, 2018 · No Comments
“It takes patience to associate with women and whoever loves them needs to be magnanimous. They are always picking quarrels with men and annoying them, as they are proud of being the fair sex, boasting of their own superiority and despising men. This is particularly true when they see that their husbands love them, and […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Keeping things balanced
March 3rd, 2018 · No Comments
“When you read what fate inscribes On Time’s forehead, you would shed tears of blood. If Time’s right hand preserves a man from harm, Its left will pour him out a cup of doom.” – The Arabian Nights (trans. Lyons, et al.)
Tags: Lit & Crit
With friends like that . . .
March 2nd, 2018 · No Comments
“When glory and good luck befriend a man, Disasters and misfortunes keep away. Friends come as uninvited parasites, And even supposed guardians act as pimps. He farts and people take it as a song, While any smell he makes is sweet perfume.” – The Arabian Nights (trans. Lyons, et al.)
Tags: Lit & Crit