Steinbeck?

It's always sobering to read a great writer's life work snipingly dismissed by an Almighty Critic, Lord of the Canon.  This, to remind all young aspirants to Parnassus what fate shall befall them should they fail to conform to the party lines of the academic criticism industry, the self-appointed guardians of all that is good and enduring in Literature.  Steinbeck knew how to tell a story, that's all I know. 

Human Trafficking

I guess people will debate about the reality of anything, including modern day human slavery, aka, sex trafficking. 

Decline of Suburbia-- hooray!

Enlightening article not just about the decline of suburbs, but the rebirth of cities. 

Bipolar Economy, Bear Stearns Massacre Blues

Our economy, it turns out, is bipolar.  Boom and bust, faith and doubt, sweet zeal and tortured skepticism.  Nonetheless, the deal-maker architects--the bankers-- in the belly (or should we say brain?) of the beast don't want any regulations.  Governmental interference would limit their highs. 

 

Oh but the lows.  Yes, they want some help then.  Money pumped in from the Fed like a quick prescription of Vicodiin or Oxycontin.  Yes, they love Uncle Sam then.  Could someone please do a quick revision of Bob Dylan's "Talkin Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" as "Talkin Bear Stearns Picnic Massacre Blues"? 

 

Can we end this twisted joyride of denial?  Bipolar economy, heal thyself!  Get some antidepressants--some regulations--that is.  A nice little cocktail of pills, taken twice daily.  Yes, you will no longer see those delirious highs.  Stockroom running boys might not sweat so profusely.  But we will not all be out of a job and at the mercy of your mood when you hit those lows.  Smooth the peaks, even the valleys. 

 

Get to a shrink (oh, we're shrinking all right--all of our portfolios...)  Get a prescription--a fix.  Then to CVS.  Quick.

 

 

Another sell-out takes the pulpit

Actually, what I see here is not a tale of hard-working Schmo sticks w/it and after a few hard knocks makes it big. Rather it is your typical:  idealistic type decides he needs money and goes commercial, flaunting the tribulations of the marketplace (oh woe!) as some kind of gleaming professional wisdom.  Yeah, that is probably the American Way.  We figure if the Buddha really was so wise, he would have to sell a book w/seven laws based on his teachings--sure millions...

 

 

Brooks spits on Spitzer

David Brooks at his best  (Who could know better than he the perils and pitfalls the upwardly mobile and self-grandiose?)

Mischaracterized Earthies

Like most free market religionists, this guy has a beef with environmentalists because at times they actually question the workings of the market... (E.g., when the market appears to be helping the globe on its way to shitsville.) The market religionist, you see, devout worshipper of Mammon that he is, can't stand the thought that anything be put above the pure workings of his deity.

Decline and Fall of Literature

I read an article similar to this a few years ago in Slate, and when I forwarded it to a professor friend, was subtlely chastised for laughing along with the know-nothing rubes who always thrill in deriding the high-minded theorists among us... 

More fun satire on college liberal arts departments....

Dwelling in Possibilities

Brilliant--some of the ideas and imagery in this essay by a fusty septuagenarian comes straight from a heart half his age.