The Archives
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04.23.09Directed as by madnessI saw a ship of martial build (Her standards set, her brave apparel on) Directed as by madness mere Against a stolid iceberg steer, Nor budge it, though the infatuate ship went down. Herman Melville, The Berg (A Dream) The Titanic has been a major topic of discussion at my house for a couple months. I'm not sure where the interest in all things shipwreck-and-iceberg related came from--these obsessions are often a mystery to me--but the boys have devoured every book on the Titanic from the Minneapolis Library's children's section, and a fair number from the adult section. They know all the facts ...
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03.31.09Unemployment Diary: I am LazarusI am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot March 12, 2009 What the culture of looming layoffs does to those who lose their jobs is obvious enough: abrupt financial turmoil, devastating loss of self-esteem, the feeling of having been cast out of society for no good reason. But what about those who are left behind after the tide rushes out? I've survived quite a few down-sizings, right-sizings, smart-sizings, and other such euphemistic rounds of firings. They're almost always conducted with a good amount of ...
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03.31.09Unemployment Diary: About suffering they were never wrongAbout suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along Mus&eaccute;e des Beaux Arts, W. H. Auden March 10, 2009 I went back to the MIA with the Yashica and faster film; we'll see if the results are any better. This time I focussed on the third floor galleries, particularly the 20th century American paintings. The MIA has just one Andrew Wyeth, and a nice N.C. Wyeth "Cream of Wheat" illustration, which I found particularly calming in a strange way. ...
