Audio: “Invictus” recited by Morgan Freeman
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]
Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age? What is the use of poetry?
Ben Martin: COVID-19 and Philip Roth’s Nemesis
The practice of medicine demands answers, yet to practice medicine in the United States is an invitation […] to be swallowed by suffering that eludes meaning.
Joel Christensen: Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales
As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about why its performance was so crucial to ancient life. One answer is that epic and tragedy helped ancient storytellers and audiences try to make sense of human suffering.
Majid Naficy: Corpse of the Revolution
I do not wait for poetry
But go in search of it
Because my wings are broken
And I am left far from my nest…
Khury Petersen-Smith: Ending the Myth That Trump Is Ending the Wars
Trump has sent more new troops to the Middle East than he’s bringing home from Afghanistan.
Madhav Joshi: There’s no easy exit for the US in Afghanistan
While the steps of a successful peace process do not need to unfold in a particular order, my research and that of others shows that there are several clear steps that any process should take to maximize the chances of success.
Mandy Smithberger: Creating a National Insecurity State
At $1.21 trillion, the actual national security budget is essentially twice the size of the announced Pentagon budget… Yet those calling for higher budgets continue to argue that the only way to keep America safe is to pour in yet more tax dollars at a moment when remarkably little is going into, for instance, domestic infrastructure.
Daniel Burston: Anti-Semitism on the Left
Many Left wing activists disparage the majority of American Jews, saying that we enjoy all the perks of White privilege, and therefore seek to “uphold”, rather than to oppose or dismantle White Supremacy; the very thing far-Right activists insist that we are secretly intent on destroying.
Video: Tom Lehrer | The Vatican Rag & Send the Marines
What do we do? We send the Marines!
For might makes right,
And till they’ve seen the light,
They’ve got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
‘Till somebody we like can be elected.
Kazu Haga: Why the moral argument for nonviolence matters
The civil rights movement was led largely by leaders who believed in nonviolence as a moral imperative. It was not only the most effective thing, but also the right thing.
Rebecca Gordon: Torture’s Legacy
If one administration can get away with confining detainees in coffinlike boxes and torturing them in myriad other ways, why shouldn’t a later one go unpunished for, to take but one example, putting migrant children in cages?
Connie Post: How to Sort the Living from the Dead
Forget all the nonsense
about eyes opened or closed
or breathing
or brain waves
