The smell of the battlefield is, quite often, a recurrent theme in the ‘war is hell‘ school of military writing. As the dead decay, slowly putrefying in the open, their remain are worked on by maggots and flies and slowly leach into the ground beneath them. The malodorous miasma that results from these corpses hangsContinue reading “War is Hell – I: The Battlefield as Open Toilet”
Monthly Archives: June 2014
The Pleasures of “Emotional Difficulties”
In his review of several exhibitions showcasing the work of Félix Vallotton, Julian Bell writes: Vallotton is not so much an autobiographical artist as an artist who coolly and procedurally recognizes that his own emotional difficulties might supply him with viable imaginative material. Vallotton wouldn’t be the first or last artist to recognize this, ofContinue reading “The Pleasures of “Emotional Difficulties””
Put Away Work; The World Cup Is Here
Good afternoon, world. The World Cup starts today. Let me tell you how serious this business is: I had intended to cancel my cable subscription a month or so ago, till a good friend reminded me about it. He stayed my hand, eager to claim time and money. Imagine: a cable cancellation delayed because ofContinue reading “Put Away Work; The World Cup Is Here”
On First and Second Languages-IV: Bringing Up Baby
I am often asked, by well-meaning friends, “Are you going to teach your daughter how to speak [Hindi, Urdu]?” My answer, invariably, is “I’ll try.” So I’m trying. My efforts at teaching my daughter Hindi-Urdu consist primarily of speaking to her in it, with occasional lapses into English. These lapses have become more frequent. IContinue reading “On First and Second Languages-IV: Bringing Up Baby”
The New American Dream: Becoming An Academic Administrator
Go West, young man; or perhaps, go into plastics. And now, go become an academic administrator. The City University of New York’s new chancellor, James Milliken, will soon be drawing upon his $670,000 salary. When he does so, he’ll be able to entertain guests in style at his $18,000 a month apartment on the UpperContinue reading “The New American Dream: Becoming An Academic Administrator”
Getting What We Really Want: Heavily Armed Police Forces
A couple of months ago, I made note, yet again, of the steady militarization of US police. Today, we have more news from that ‘front.’ (A word that seems ever more appropriate). The New York Times‘ Matt Apuzzo reports: [A]s President Obama ushers in the end of what he called America’s “long season of war,”Continue reading “Getting What We Really Want: Heavily Armed Police Forces”
Beverly Gage Misses the Mark on Ken Burns’ ‘The War’
Ken Burns‘ The War–a seven-episode, fourteen-hour documentary on the Second World War, released in 2007–was never going to find favor with all who viewed it. Mostly because it is unabashedly sentimental, an unforgivable sin for those of ironic and skeptical persuasion. Even granted this, Beverly Gage‘s review in Slate–which I read after finishing my viewContinue reading “Beverly Gage Misses the Mark on Ken Burns’ ‘The War’”
On Reading the Unreadable (or Persisting)
Michael Greenberg writes of Jorge Luis Borges: He advises his students to leave a book if it bores them: “that book was not written for you,” no matter its reputation or fame. Good advice, but not easily followed. Borges’ advice isn’t easy to follow because the decision to continue reading is just another instance ofContinue reading “On Reading the Unreadable (or Persisting)”
Of Annapurnas and Men: Maurice Herzog’s Epic Lives On
Just over sixty-four years ago, on June 3rd 1950, a pair of French mountaineers, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, stood on the summit of Annapurna, the world’s tenth highest peak. It was the first time mountaineers had succeeded in climbing a peak above eight thousand meters altitude. The French pair’s trials and travails were notContinue reading “Of Annapurnas and Men: Maurice Herzog’s Epic Lives On”
Maureen Dowd Lays Her Mile-High Bum Trip On Us
It might have been predicted, with probability one, that in the wake of Colorado legalizing marijuana, we would be inundated with tall tales of reefer madness sweeping the state, scouring the slopes and plains of that mountainous land like one of those snowy avalanches that sometimes afflict its more outdoorsy folk. That moment is nowContinue reading “Maureen Dowd Lays Her Mile-High Bum Trip On Us”
Samir Chopra 