Dwayne Carter Jr.’s release from Rikers Prison in New York may have slipped past many news readers last month. After all, the story didn’t make major headlines but was primarily relegated to entertainment substories or headlines on pop culture website. Dwayne Carter, more popularly known as Lil’ Wayne, finished serving 8 months in federal prison for charges of attempted weapons possession back in 2007… . Continue Reading »
My friend James Martin, a Jesuit priest, each year gives over a portion of Advent to rightly despairing of the over-commercialization (and increasingly too-early) start to the “seasonal” music and shopping of Christmas. In his pleasant but pointed snark, he warns that soon we will be seeing Santa’s image in July, along with the first “pre-Christmas” bargains… Continue Reading »
’Tis the season when major transatlantic publications, such as the New York Times,Washington Post, Atlantic, Economist, Guardian, and Times Literary Supplement, feature their holiday guides and notable books of the year. Seldom pleased with the selections, I’ve put together my own list of best reads… . Continue Reading »
First Things’ January issue has been sent out to subscribers, and is now available online. It is, if we might say so, brimming with intellectual variety. The issue opens with James Nuechterlein’s Public Square column, where he analyzes the roots of discomfort with patriotism, and how those who value religious orthodoxy can be patriots without being idolaters… . Continue Reading »
I write this letter to you in my own name only and not in the name of my institute, of any government committees in which I am involved, or of any organization. I write because what happens in South Australia on this matter will affect all Australians … Continue Reading »
Aimé Foinpré (1841-1880) died a hundred and thirty years ago today (17 December), killed as he leapt from a second story window in Paris’ seventh arrondissement to escape the wrath of a jealous husband; he was dead even before the raven-tressed cause of contention had hastily gathered up her clothes and fled from the room… . Continue Reading »
In Light of the World, his book-length interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, Pope Benedict XVI, who is both a brilliant theologian and a compassionate pastor, tried to reconfigure the world’s conversation about several pressing issues … Continue Reading »
“Empire” comes from the Latin imperium, derived from the verb imperare, which means to command. Thus an emperor, the man who governs by command rather than consensus or consultation. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the invasion of Iraq, America was in command, not absolutely and not everywhere … . Continue Reading »
More famous for her Broadway productions of The Lion King and the upcoming Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark than for films such as Titus, Frida, and Across the Universe, Julie Taymor has brought a new version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest to the screen… . Continue Reading »
Relating an incident that occurred on an expedition to South America, Charles Darwin wrote: In Tierra del Fuego a native touched with his fingers some cold preserved meat which I was eating at our bivouac, and plainly showed utter disgust at its softness; whilst I felt utter disgust at my food being touched by a naked savage, though his hands did not appear dirty…Continue Reading »
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