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Tag Archives: society
Pen Pricks
In certain Victorian novels, female authors paint a bleak picture of limited options available to women lacking means or family status; of a lonely and loveless existence, yet one lacking privacy and subject to uninvited comment; of a life peopled … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Quotations
Tagged culture, France, India, journalism, language, poetry, reading, rhetoric, society, style, writing
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The Case for Old Bulls
“New research challenges the assumption that bulls become redundant in elephant society after breeding.” New evidence suggests that male elephants do have social lives, and that older males may act as leaders for younger ones.…For example, from 1992 to 1997, … Continue reading
Shackles
Jacob Blake, the Black resident of Kenosha, Wis., who was shot by a white police officer, is shackled to his hospital bed [my bolding]… [He] remains paralyzed from the waist down… The police were arresting Mr. Blake on Sunday afternoon … Continue reading
‘A Difference That Adds Up’
In 2019, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London hosted the first international retrospective of Ms. Hurtado’s art, “I Live I Die I Will Be Reborn.” Reviewing it in The Guardian, Adrian Searle wrote, “Vitality, tenderness, spookiness, intimacy, gawkiness, sexiness, subtlety, … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Quotations
Tagged art, language, painting, rhetoric, society, style
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Mother Power
The “club” of Sarah Vowell’s title is clarified in the subtitle of this article: “They’re the graduates of public universities, and they’ve stepped into the void of presidential leadership.” President Lyndon Johnson was a graduate of Southwest Texas State College … Continue reading
Extreme Centrality. Yeah
Credit… Mason Trinca for The New York Times. The philosopher Isaiah Berlin once said he occupied the “extreme right-wing edge of the left-wing movement.” If that’s good enough for Isaiah Berlin, it’s good enough for me. (David Brooks, “This Is … Continue reading
‘Horrific Surrealism’
Behrouz Boochani wrote his book with desperate means from imprisonment in a brutal Australian camp for migrants. A collaborator from outside who helped assemble the book terms it a work of “horrific surrealism.” Boochani’s book challenges readers to acknowledge that … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Quotations
Tagged coronavirus, language, pandemic, rhetoric, society, writing
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The Romance of Aerated Water
Mr. Patel, a historian, chronicles how soda pop became fiendishly soda-popular in India; or in his finer language: “how Parsis helped shape India’s taste for soft drinks.” The Parsis, whose name means “Persians,” are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated … Continue reading
John Lewis
[When I inserted the photograph of Mr. Lewis included in the NYTimes I triggered the above warning, so I substituted a sketch of mine for the photograph.] Representative John Lewis died on July 17, 2020. These are the last words … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Quotations
Tagged language, miscellaneous, poetry, religion, rhetoric, society, style
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‘I Hate Men’ Two
There’s more to Pauline Harmange, French author of I Hate Men, than met the eye of Ralph Zurmély, the gender equality ministry adviser who sought to prosecute her for incitement of gender-based violence. His ministry said “it appeared [he] had … Continue reading →