The Marvel of the Obvious The Marvel of the Obvious
"There are things/We live among 'and to see them/Is to know ourselves.'" These three lines are among the most stirring written by George Oppen, a poet whose modesty and honesty p...
Mar 7, 2002 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella
The Still Bad New Old Nixon The Still Bad New Old Nixon
It's been three decades since President Richard M.
Mar 5, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Robert Scheer
Messenger Messenger
The birds stopped coming after the annuals died. I didn't realize how much I missed them until the bluebird Returned, lured by the burgundy haze of the fall pansies Pour...
Feb 28, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Franklin
‘Monsoon’ Season ‘Monsoon’ Season
Why, asked my friends and my baffled wife. Why, piped my son. Even the movie critics sitting next to me wanted to know: What perversity drove me to see Hart's War and Rollerball?...
Feb 28, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
H. Rap Brown/Jamil Al-Amin: A Profoundly American Story H. Rap Brown/Jamil Al-Amin: A Profoundly American Story
Die Nigger Die!, the autobiographical political memoir by H. Rap Brown, is a vital American historical document--historical almost in the sense of a message found in a time capsu...
Feb 28, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
Artists Strike a Chord Artists Strike a Chord
Johnny Temple plays bass guitar in the rock bands Girls Against Boys and New Wet Kojak and is the publisher of Akashic Books (www.akashicbooks.com).
Feb 27, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Johnny Temple
A Prayer for America A Prayer for America
I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. With love for our country. With hope for our country.
Feb 26, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Dennis Kucinich
Seeking ‘Convulsive Beauty’ Seeking ‘Convulsive Beauty’
The legendary Surrealist exhibitions of the late 1930s and early 1940s were Surrealist in spirit and secondarily Surrealist in content. In 1942, for example, an exhibition called...
Feb 21, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Arthur C. Danto
The Base Camp of Christendom The Base Camp of Christendom
Pat Buchanan surely holds the record for the greatest impact on a presidential election with the fewest votes. With less than 0.43 percent of the tally nationally, he still manag...
Feb 21, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Philip A. Klinkner
Not Betsy Rosses Not Betsy Rosses
For a while I thought about designing a flag. Something bigger, blurrier than "nation." I imagined a hovering planet on a field of blue, and "United We Stand" could be written un...
Feb 21, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Eileen Myles