“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.”- Camus
You Can Listen Here: With his new book We Were Eight Years in Power, Ta-Nehisi Coates has become an indispensable American writer. In Between the World and Me he demonstrated a terrible sorrow and gravitas. With Power, he shows that his analytic skills, his command of American history, his controlled anger and his sharp, elegiac style have reached full maturity. Coates believes in the efficacy of historical research, in primary sources, in the slow […]
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You Can Listen Here: Arpaio , the sadist, pardoned by Trump on August 25. The Dreamers thrown into the sea by Trump on September 5. The actions are bookends. Between them they hold the volumes on malice, political expedience, lies and racist pandering that comprise the death-cult faction of the Republican Party, 88% of whom still support this President, the authentic culmination of decades of Republican race baiting, the true and abiding wizard of all that white fear and […]
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You Can Listen Here: Often, loving poetry feels like a useless pursuit in this most mercenary and utilitarian era. The Republic is darkening and poetry might feel like a luxury and an affectation, an absurdity to speak of, as if it is a frill, a personal gratification only, but poetry has become a necessary part of my life, as pleasurable as that first sip of coffee. It helps me tamp down my daily rage […]
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You Can Listen Here: A confluence of lovely occasions might release us from our hourly mugging in the American tribulation, and so hundreds of vultures in a kettle the size of which I have never seen, circling over us north to south on this white cloud afternoon, was a wonder and a joy. Then Johnny Cash came on the radio singing Ghost Riders in the Sky and a momentary amnesty was delivered to us, and it felt good just […]
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