That mysterious, terrible anxiety felt on a beautiful day–whether that of the spring, summer, fall, or winter–is perhaps better understood when we realize that such anxiety is not one, but many anxieties. To wit, that anxiety is: The anxiety of not knowing whether this beautiful day is not the harbinger of a terrible day; forContinue reading “The Anxieties Of A Beautiful Day”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
America, Let’s Just Keep Our Flag At Half-Mast, OK?
Folks, we have a problem on our hands. Every few days, or weeks, we put the hard-working men and women who are in charge of lowering and raising our national flag–whether in parks, schools, public libraries, post offices, or anywhere else–to considerable hardship. To wit, we make them repeatedly perform the tedious task of loweringContinue reading “America, Let’s Just Keep Our Flag At Half-Mast, OK?”
Book Release Announcement: ‘Shyam Benegal: Filmmaker and Philosopher’
I’m pleased to make note here that my book ‘Shyam Benegal: Filmmaker and Philosopher‘ has been released by Bloomsbury Books. Here is the book cover and the jacket copy: For almost fifty years now, Shyam Benegal has been a leading artistic, political, and moral force in Indian cinema. Informed by a rich political and philosophicalContinue reading “Book Release Announcement: ‘Shyam Benegal: Filmmaker and Philosopher’”
The Gabba As Field Of Dreams
All sports fans are sustained by fantasies. They are our white ravens, the sights we imagine we will never see, because they are ruled out by improbabilities, but they still sustain us. For they bring us back to the ‘action’ again and again, hoping against hope and empirical plausibility, letting their associated dreams and wonderingsContinue reading “The Gabba As Field Of Dreams”
Crossfitting While Brown
I ‘CrossFitted.’ And I’m Brown. But I just didn’t CrossFit anywhere. I trained at CrossFit South Brooklyn (CFSBK). That is a crucial component of my “CrossFitting While Brown” experience. Being brown and chasing ‘elite fitness’ does not necessarily entail a conceptual clash between the two, but my personal insecurities and the cultural placement of CrossFitContinue reading “Crossfitting While Brown”
Anxiety And Philosophical Inquiry
My essay in Psyche Magazine on the intimate linkage of anxiety and philosophical inquiry is online today.
Killing a Friendship Over Email
Modern relationships end in strange ways. Last year, a friend terminated a friendship with me over email. We had not met in over a year, and had been exchanging emails on trying to find a time and place to meet and ‘catch up.’ Arranging a meeting time with another ambitious New Yorker that works isContinue reading “Killing a Friendship Over Email”
The American Republic Stands By For A 3-6 Shellacking
The American Republic, not content with having one election decided by nine unelected officials (Bush v. Gore, circa 2000), is gearing up yet again to have its Grand Prize, its esteemed (and very expensive) presidential election, decided by another unelected jurisprudential posse – the Supremes, all the better now for having replaced one punchy acronymContinue reading “The American Republic Stands By For A 3-6 Shellacking”
William James On The ‘Automatic, Therapeutic Decision’
In Existential Psychotherapy, Irvin Yalom, writing of conscious, directed, self-therapeutic change, writes of the ‘essential’ role of personal decisions and choices in ‘effective’ therapy, and invokes William James‘ five-fold taxonomy of decisions “only two of which, the first and the second, involve “willful” effort”: 1. Reasonable decision. We consider the arguments for and against aContinue reading “William James On The ‘Automatic, Therapeutic Decision’”
Cover And Catalog Copy For ‘The Evolution of a Cricket Fan: My Shapeshifting Journey’
The good folks at Temple University Press have a cover design for my forthcoming book, ‘The Evolution of a Cricket Fan: My Shapeshifting Journey.’ Here is the catalog copy for the book: An autobiographical account of a cricket lover’s journey across nations and identities The Evolution of a Cricket Fan: A Shapeshifting Journey Samir Chopra isContinue reading “Cover And Catalog Copy For ‘The Evolution of a Cricket Fan: My Shapeshifting Journey’”
Samir Chopra 