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- Dynamic Duo #45
- “I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not to be among the greatest.” –John Keats
- Trailer for The Art and Making of Frankenstein, by me.
- Dynamic Duo #44
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- Pam on The Books: “Rally Round the Flag, Boys!” (Max Shulman)
- Steve on The Books: Ellen Terry & Bernard Shaw: A Correspondence
- sheila on Publication day: The Art and Making of Frankenstein
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- Jay on The Books: “Talk To Me Like the Rain … And Let Me Listen” (Tennessee Williams)
- O on “Since when was genius found respectable?” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- sheila on “The other girls weren’t singing quite like I was.” — Wanda Jackson
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Tag Archives: politics
“Here’s to better times ahead and saying goodbye to bombs and bullets once and for all.” — Lyra McKee
Born on this day, investigative journalist Lyra McKee was shot and killed in Derry in 2019, during a standoff between police officers and dissident republicans. She was there as a journalist, covering the events. A masked person fired a shot … Continue reading
“Art indeed is long, but life is short.” — Metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell
“Andrew Marvell spans three ages like a delicate but serviceable bridge. The first length spans Charles I’s reign and fall, the second spans the Commonwealth, the third the Restoration.” — Michael Schmidt, Lives of the Poets It’s his birthday today. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Andrew Marvell, Camille Paglia, England, Harold Bloom, John Aubrey, Michael Schmidt, poetry, politics, Six Centuries of Great Poetry, T.S. Eliot
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“Silence is necessary to tyrants and occupiers, who take pains to have their actions accompanied by quiet.” — Ryszard Kapuściński
It’s the birthday today of one of my favorite writers, Polish journalist and author Ryszard Kapuściński. His death in 2007 was devastating to me. I went to the memorial tribute at the New York Public Library, hosted by his close … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Armenia, Ethiopia, Iran, nonfiction, Poland, politics, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, war
7 Comments
Eleanor Roosevelt, the D.A.R., and Marian Andersen
86 years ago today, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) after the organization barred famous contralto Marian Anderson from singing at Constitution Hall. Howard University had invited Anderson to sing in Washington … Continue reading
“And the world Is gonna know your name. What’s your name, man?” “Alexander Hamilton.”
Except for the opening paragraph, this post was (mostly – there are some updates) written in 2008, years before “Hamilton” mania overtook the world. I almost can’t believe it’s happened. To all of you newcomers to Hamiltonia, I say, Welcome … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, politics, war
20 Comments
“I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” — Rebecca West
It’s her birthday today. It is hard to talk about her without referencing the generations of writers she inspired, all of whom admit their debt. Robert Kaplan is the most open about it (in Balkan Ghosts, which launched his career, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Austria, Balkans, D.H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, France, George Bernard Shaw, Germany, Katherine Mansfield, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, nonfiction, politics, Rebecca West, Roman empire, Russia, Serbia, W.B. Yeats, war, Yugoslavia
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“People who are wise, good, smart, skillful, or hardworking don’t need politics, they have jobs.” — P.J. O’Rourke
It’s his birthday today. P.J. O’Rourke’s sentences were masterpieces. Airtight. For example: “Wherever there’s injustice, oppression, and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it’s happening.” Or: “Sloths move at the speed … Continue reading
Review: Kneecap (2024)
I reviewed Kneecap for Ebert, a fun interesting fictionalized-ish movie about the formation/rise of Kneecap, the Irish-language-only hiphop trio from Belfast. The trio play themselves!
Dynamic Duo #39
Mandy Rice-Davies and Christine Keeler, 1963