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Now a newsletterer?

After twenty years of blogging, I have followed my fellow netizens to Substack, where I am publishing a weekly newsletter. You can subscribe via the form to the left and please drop me a note with a link to your newsletter.

Taking Notes

Thinking out loud in my corner of the internets.

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I’ve been writing here for over a decade now. In hindsight, only a handful of those posts are still worth reading.

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Why is Bush not letting Students go to Cuba?

Via this article, I learned today that the White House will "impose tighter restrictions on so-called "educational travel" to Cuba by American groups, which have increased in recent years and are widely considered de facto tourism." Bush said in a meeting today that...

Huntington Responds

Just after posting that last bit I found a very interesting exchange of letters and a response by Huntington here on the FP website. (they annoyingly ask you to register) Here is what my old advisor, Wayne Cornelius wrote: Wayne Cornelius Gildred Professor of...

Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards

Mercy Among the Children is a stunning novel by David Adams Richards. It has nothing to do with international conflict, but a nation at war should stare into its flame … There’s light here for anyone who can stand the considerable heat he generates. Told with racing suspense and a style that swings between gritty realism and Old Testament myth, Mercy Among the Children is a bitter antidote to the proud slogans of war between neighbors or nations. Here is the reason to read fiction.

My email to Ilan Stavans

Earlier this morning I sent the following email a Ilan Stavans - un profe at Amherst y escritor de Spanglish: the making of a new american language. I'll write a review sobre el libro pronto but what I want to know now is how many of you would help contribute to an...

Liberal vs Conservative – It's a matter of heart not mind

I was once very convinced that being a liberal had something to do with intelligence. That liberals were actually more intellegent than conservatives. It wasn't a bias so much as careful observation. Every Republican I met seemed a little ... well, stupid. I remember...

The New Americans

On Tuesday night I was able to catch part of Steve James' (Hoop Dreams) new documetary, The New Americans on PBS. It was really well done and when it comes out, I'm gonna rent it on DVD. Here's an excerpt from an NYTimes interview: HALE Where did you get the idea for...