2003-01-28T15:57:00-04:00

IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN: It was cool to see “In the Mirror of Maya Deren” reviewed on NRO. Deren was an avant-garde filmmaker; I’ve seen some of her work (can’t remember if it was “Meshes of the Afternoon” or just the excerpts of it in the documentary “ITMOMD”) and wasn’t much of a fan, but her book Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti is really excellent. It lays out the basic structure of Vodoun (voodoo), describing the... Read more

2003-01-28T14:06:00-04:00

TEENS, HOMESCHOOLING, AND THE LONELY CROWD: My Jewish World Review column. Read more

2003-01-28T12:31:00-04:00

“Faire Lady,” then said that victorious knight, “The things, that grievous were to do, ore beare, Them to renew, I wote, breeds no delight…”—TFQ Read more

2003-01-27T23:43:00-04:00

BUCK VS. BALKIN: Buck, Buck, Balkin, Buck, Balkin, Buck. (I feel like I’m playing Duck Duck Goose here.) It’s about how Roe v. Wade has affected US party politics and whether or how that matters. Interesting stuff, though I have to agree with Buck that it isn’t quite as interesting as Balkin tries to make it…! Read more

2003-01-27T23:28:00-04:00

THE GOBLIN QUEEN also has a post about child care, responding to me. She points out that excellent day care can be better than parenting under stress (surely), adds that stay-at-home motherhood is not economically feasible for lots of families (yes, and I should have been clearer that my points were directed at people who are in a position to choose to take a do-able if sacrificial financial hit in order for Mom to mother full-time or more-time), and cites... Read more

2003-01-27T23:01:00-04:00

GETTING IN: A while back, the Goblin Queen posted, amid a longer rambly post (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) this take on affirmative action in college admissions: “I was thinking that maybe one way for colleges might foster diversity without a strict numerical preference (and which would allow for them to solicit applicants that offered non-racial diversity) would be to have a series of essay questions: ‘What challenges have you faced in your educational career? Feel free to... Read more

2003-01-27T21:34:00-04:00

IRAQ, FATALISM, LIBERTY: QUESTIONS, NO ANSWERS: Today Fareed Zakaria has a typically sharp piece, basically just a list of potential (likely to somewhat likely) positive outcomes of war in Iraq. It’s a counterweight to cautionary pieces like this much-linked-by-me Gene Healy essay. Zakaria closes with, “There are always risks involved when things change. But for the past 40 years the fear of these risks has paralyzed Western policy toward the Middle East. And what has come of this caution? Repression,... Read more

2003-01-27T15:50:00-04:00

WHAT IS CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER? Seriously. I know this is a bizarre question, but I don’t feel like I have a good handle on it. I do a lot of petitionary prayer, thanksgiving, and praise, but I don’t even really know what contemplative prayer is like. Surely it’s more than thinking lovingly about God, no? There have definitely been times when I felt really sharply focused on one aspect of God, for example God the Creator, or the Crucifixion–almost always this... Read more

2003-01-27T15:25:00-04:00

INSIDE THE NORTH KOREAN GULAG. Horrific. Read more

2003-01-27T12:18:00-04:00

They all ran after the farmer’s wife, She blogwatched their tails with a carving knife, Did you ever see such a thing in your life? The Agitator: Good post on affirmative action in college admissions. Of which more later today. Amy Welborn: Bowling alleys in churches; monkey love (with implications for the “office mom” stuff below). Natalie Solent: “Once the regime of rules becomes sufficiently complicated it collapses under its own weight and becomes a regime of the personal jugement... Read more

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