in First Things: Addressing women who knew they would never be able to marry because the lives of too many of their country’s men had been claimed by the Second World War, Pope Pius XII had the following to say in 1945: When one thinks of the women who voluntarily renounce matrimony in order to consecrate themselves to a life of contemplation, sacrifice, and charity, immediately there comes to one’s lips a luminous word: vocation! [But] this vocation, this call... Read more
I am not an economist and have no opinion on this guy’s various specific solutions, but these points really resonated with me: …There are folks who go through these stresses that Dean Baker and I wrote about in the New York Times, but there’s this extra problem that employers then may say well, that guy might be scarred so why should I bother, and it makes the scarring worse, and you end up in a terrible spiral. That’s how you... Read more
Rats sold as pets? The grim tabloid conditions of “One of the Darkest Periods in the History of American Prisons”: It has been an extraordinary three weeks in the history of the American penal system, perhaps one of the darkest periods on record. In four states, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, the systemic abuse and neglect of inmates, and especially mentally ill inmates, has been investigated, chronicled and disclosed in... Read more
along with the reading lists of many lesser mortals: Last year’s summer reading list was justifiably popular, so the Bookman pleased to return with another round of contributions from our reviewers, who have culled through the massive numbers of books published to focus on those worth reading, discussing, and digesting. more–quite a bit of history, and a bit of mackerel-snappery. Read more
makes a whole bunch of good points: …In other words, why should law-abiding citizens mind federal surveillance? The answer begins with this distressing reality: None of us scrupulously obeys the law. Technically speaking, we’re all criminals. Federal and state criminal statutes have multiplied like rabbits over the decades, and so now everyone breaks the law, probably every day. Copy a song to your laptop from a friend’s Beyonce CD? You just violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Did you buy... Read more
This dynamic – the hallmark of a healthy and free society – has been radically reversed. Now, they know everything about what we do, and are constantly building systems to know more. Meanwhile, we know less and less about what they do, as they build walls of secrecy behind which they function. That’s the imbalance that needs to come to an end. No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power... Read more
at the National Gallery: …It’s ambitious, and it mostly works. Even the walk over to the exhibit feels like a part of the show: In the cool, white, high-ceilinged landing of the gallery, you walk past George Segal’s 1971 plaster sculpture The Dancers, in which a ring of four calm and focused women practice their moves. From this image of peace and clarity you suddenly enter the dark, exotic, lush world of the Ballets Russes exhibit: a world of inspiration... Read more
so it is not exactly a Brookings Institute report, but, well, I wouldn’t read a Brookings Institute report and neither should you. Read more
If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind. Each crisis seems final, simply because it is new. We are told that the oldest inhabitants in Peru do not cease to be agitated by the earthquakes, but they probably see beyond each shock, and reflect that... Read more
“The Happy Prince” and “The Selfish Giant,” from the 1970s. Read more
Eve Tushnet
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