Our cultural moment is characterized by public displays of incredibly intimate information. People outdo each other in telling all, including gruesome tales of abuse and even voluntary self-debasement recounted with relish. Just look at the nonfiction best-seller list. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’m a private person (that’s become such a cliche, …
This weekend I revisited the writings of Martin Luther King, looking for something to read in his honor at a gathering of friends. In my mind, he stands for eloquent justice in the face of stubborn privilege, and as far as it goes, that’s true. But taking him literally, he stands so much more for …
A decade ago, my husband and I were resident writers for a month at the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, on Italy’s Lake Como. Fellows (artists, scientists, scholars) rotated in and out of the center, a new batch of perhaps ten people being added or subtracted each week. Our month happened to coincide with a …
The huge dissonance in political life — the conundrum for any thoughtful analyst with democratic values — is why so many people who share no material interests with George W. Bush voted to re-elect him president. Most pundits seem to feel satisfied with a two-word explanation: “values voters.” Evidently it puts a cork in their …
On Thanksgiving, our local paper carried an AP story about Bobby Goldstein, the creator of a reality TV show called “Cheaters,” in which camera crews accompany people who want to find and confront their unfaithful partners. One hundred old episodes are being re-edited, excising language and sexual images that might upset the FCC, which — …
I was just listening to Republican Convention coverage on NPR and heard a young delegate from Nebraska describe herself as part of the “post-9/11 generation,” and therefore especially concerned about national security. She put me in mind of \Letter to the Next Generation\, a wonderful film by Jim Klein (you can find it at New …
Political speech is so close to religious discourse. Listening to John Kerry and his friends and family last night was a little like praying: my mind skates over the parts I find disturbing (as during prayers beseeching God to smite our enemies), and lingers, swelling with desire, during the parts that lift my heart. Then …
The other day I took a walk with a friend who came to this country as a child, a refugee from Nazi Germany. We talked–are there any other topics these days–of the state of American politics and society. “It’s just like Germany,” she said. “If we were younger, if our children didn?t live here, we’d …
Today’s Doonesbury makes it clear why I chose \Clarity\ for my title. Can we get it into the Army’s MREs?
It’s hilarious the way \Fahrenheit 9/11\ is being microscopically vetted for accuracy, with long newspaper stories scoring each of Michael Moore’s assertions and implications. Where were these avatars of “balance” when the Ronald Reagan mythos was being constructed daily by a print-electronic media collaboration that rivaled the Tower of Babel? The media snit suggests a …