The Dispossessed, Bisque ceramic In the last month, Gaza has been under almost daily air attacks launched from Israel. It used to be about rockets—now it started with balloons. Hardly an existential threat. The almost meaningless Netanyahu “Peace Deal” with the UAE hardly changes things, yet Netanyahu has claimed it as an excuse to finally,... Continue Reading →
Essential Readings from the Literature of the Muslim World: A Personal List
I recently posted these short book and author recommendations on Facebook. My reasoning was pretty simple: though we are now obsessed with the coronavirus and the re-emerging recognition of how pervasive racial injustice and inequality still is in America, it is only a few short years ago that we were obsessed with a quite different... Continue Reading →
History, Heritage, and the Holocaust
Currently there is a debate raging in the country about what to do with old monuments erected to celebrate the feats of the “heroes” of the Confederacy during the Civil War. I believe there is a civil solution. First, I find racism abhorrent, and I think the prominent display of these symbols of a regime... Continue Reading →
Some Observations about Racism (Part 1)
In the ongoing debate about racism in our country, there seems to be a lot of confusion about basic terms. This is often a serious obstacle to any real dialogue. With that in mind, I thought I would share a few thoughts and try to clarify things a bit. To my mind, this is not... Continue Reading →
The Dubious Myth of the “Unprecedented” Trump
The Emperor and His Guard Of course, in many simplistic ways Trump really is "unprecedented." We have never seen any president act in such bizarre and dangerous ways. On the other hand, the rather glib overuse of this word "unprecedented" masks a much more deeply entrenched problem. The word “unprecedented” has basically become a mere... Continue Reading →