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- From the archives (September 12, 2006): Under the Ghostbuster Sky
- From the archives (October 18, 2002): the first post on my blog
- Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24
- Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- From the archives (2011): Wisconsin Idyll in Funny Hats with Rocket Launchers
- From the archives (2004): I Was Told I Would Get Wings
- Off Campus, episode 3: Two truths. Hence, ergo, therefore.
- From the archives (2006): My Situational Crush
- Off Campus, episode 2: Commence the one-sided yearning
- From the archives (2004): Chicago: The Cold Extreme
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- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
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Tag Archives: war
Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24
The above pic of me – taken by Michael in a field somewhere in Ithaca – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 24 years ago today. I never should have put my picture up … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day, Personal
Tagged Block Island, Cary Grant, Croatia, Dean Stockwell, Elvis Presley, family, friends, Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Iran, Ireland, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, July and Half of August, Martin Scorsese, Memphis, politics, Raging Bull, September 11, Supernatural, Tilda Swinton, war
149 Comments
“The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.” — Robert Conquest
“I think once you accept that you have the answer to everything, you can do anything to bring it about because your enemies are trying to stop you, are enemies of reason, of truth of everything – enemies of the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged England, nonfiction, politics, Robert Conquest, Russia, Sergei Kirov, Stalin, The Great Terror, war
3 Comments
“When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson, 1939: testifying in Congress to repeal the Neutrality Act. “They are holding every Jew in Germany as a hostage. Therefore, we who are not Jews must speak, speak our sorrow and indignation and disgust in so many voices … Continue reading
June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”
June 28, 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie – setting out in their motorcade in Sarajevo that fateful morning, as the assassins, unseen, move into position. Here are two excerpts from Rebecca West’s towering Black Lamb and Grey … Continue reading
“I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.” — George Orwell
Orwell was born on this day. When Animal Farm was released in a new edition, Christopher Hitchens wrote specifically about the quote from Orwell shown in the title above. Very few people can “face unpleasant facts”. Hitchens: A commissar who … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged 1984, Animal Farm, dystopia, England, essays, George Orwell, nonfiction, politics, Russia, war
7 Comments
“And the role of the fatal chorus / I agree to take on” — Anna Akhmatova
“This I pray at your liturgy After so many tormented days, So that the stormcloud over darkened Russia Might become a cloud of glorious rays.” — Anna Akhmatova, “Prayer” Anna Akhmatova – born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko on this day – … Continue reading
For D-Day: John Ford’s They Were Expendable (1945)
In 2019, for D-Day, I wrote about John Ford’s magnificent They Were Expendable, one of the best war movies ever made. Thank you to all those who sacrificed their lives — not just Americans — in the name of liberty … Continue reading
“Fear and the absence of hatred may go well together.” — Niccolò Machiavelli
Prologue, The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, written in 1589. Machiavelli died in 1527. You can see his posthumous reputation had ballooned, just 60 years after his death. Enter MACHIAVEL. MACHIAVEL. Albeit the world think Machiavel is dead, Yet … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Christopher Marlowe, Italy, Machiavelli, nonfiction, politics, war
10 Comments
“I would rather take a photograph than be one.” — Lee Miller
Lee Miller, by David Scherman It’s the birthday of Lee Miller, fashion model, Surrealist artist, and … as if all that wasn’t enough … the only female combat photographer in Europe during the war, taking photos of concentration camps, firing … Continue reading
It’s the birthday of “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Forget”: Iris Chang
Iris Chang’s research into the atrocities committed by the Japanese on the Chinese people – particularly Chinese women – during the “rape of Nanking” in 1937 – much of it dug out of buried archives and brought to light for … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged China, Iris Chang, Japan, nonfiction, war, WWII
1 Comment