From Saul Bellow, in an essay from 1975, published in Critical Inquiry: “We are in a state of radical distraction,” he writes in “A World Too Much with Us,” an essay for the journal Critical Inquiry, in 1975, the same year Humboldt’s Gift appears. “I don’t see how we can be blind to the politicalContinue reading ““Radical Distraction” by Saul Bellow”
Category Archives: politics
Performative Cruelty in the Presidency
The best essay on our very stable genius from last year, it is clear to me now, came from The Atlantic and Adam Serwer: The Cruelty is the Point. Let me quote the “nut graph” as they say in journalism, the simplest possible outline of the argument to be made in the piece. The crueltyContinue reading “Performative Cruelty in the Presidency”
Don’t Push Me Because I’m Close to the Edge: 2019
A generation ago Grandmaster Flash had a huge hit with The Message, with a chorus that went like this: Don’t push me ’cause I’m close to the edge I’m trying not to lose my head It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder How I keep from going under That was 1982, twenty-seven years ago,Continue reading “Don’t Push Me Because I’m Close to the Edge: 2019”
A wild perspective on the government shutdown
My name is Randy, and I’m the raccoon resident of the dumpster enclosure at Yellowstone National Park’s Bridge Bay Campground. The park rangers refer to me as a “nuisance raccoon.” I’ve lost my fear of humans and ability to forage for natural food like fruits and nuts, the stuff that non-nuisance raccoons eat. ImagineContinue reading “A wild perspective on the government shutdown”
2018 headline: “Finland’s president denies telling Trump that his country rakes its forests”
This is an actual headline on the homepage of the Washington Post this evening. To explain the misleading: Prez Trump said that the President of Finland told him that Finland had many forests but no problem with forest fires. “He called it a forest nation,” Trump said, “and they spent a lot of time onContinue reading “2018 headline: “Finland’s president denies telling Trump that his country rakes its forests””
A Gillum test: a “brilliant” idea
Some of the best — and most amusing — coverage of our very stable genius has come from the often-stunned but ever-indefatigable opinion writer and interviewer Virginia Heffernan, of Slate, and the Los Angeles Times, but most of all of the podcast Trumpcast. Never thought I’d like a political podcast so much, but it’s the free-wheelingContinue reading “A Gillum test: a “brilliant” idea”
Climate change polarizes an election in Ojai
Ojai, California is a little town with a lot of big opinions. This fall an election between a long-standing incumbent and a self-educated water wonk has stirred up a good deal of controversy. Here’s my attempt to report on the issues for the Ventura County Reporter. My focus was to give the candidates a chanceContinue reading “Climate change polarizes an election in Ojai”
Trump admin expects 7 degrees warming
In an obscure government report this week, the Trump administration forecasts global temperatures will rise an average of seven degrees around the world by 2100. As the Washington Post, which broke the story, put it: Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, theContinue reading “Trump admin expects 7 degrees warming”
A true (but legal) horror — family separation
This blog mostly focuses on questions of climate, wilderness, drama and literature. Inevitably politics sneaks into the discussion, but for the most part against my wishes — my attitude as a reporter is that my opinion is no better than yours, especially on topics with which I have no personal experience. So why talk aboutContinue reading “A true (but legal) horror — family separation”
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Not an optimist. Not on Twitter
The writer, journalist, and thinker Ta-Nehisi Coates has been embroiled in controversy for years now. Seemingly his every move attracts controversy, (for reasons mysterious to small-town hick yours truly). Near as I can tell Coates has not been doing anything another prominent and successful writer wouldn’t like to do, such as moving to Paris forContinue reading “Ta-Nehisi Coates: Not an optimist. Not on Twitter”
Kit Stolz 