Civility and Evasive Thinking
The calls for ‘civility’ echo something that Václav Havel called “evasive thinking.” He opens his essay on the topic with the story of a woman who was killed by a fallen window ledge from a neglected…
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Some Themes in Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion (Spoilers)
This was originally posted as a response on Reddit to someone who felt that the novel had nothing to say. This response assumes that you have read the novel. _________________________________________________________ I don’t think the novel is ultimately…
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Internet Fast Lane Explained: How it Resembles Mafia Protection Money
I put together a very short slide presentation. Internet Fast Lane Explained from Kevin Bondelli
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Reading Women Writers #5: Meg Wolitzer – The Interestings
This is the fifth post in the Reading Women Writers series. I finished Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings weeks ago, yet I found it difficult to write about until now for a couple of reasons. First, it…
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How the Politicization of Terrorism Has Fueled Domestic Surveillance
The hottest news item of the last 24 hours is the leak of a memo revealing a top secret NSA program called PRISM that allegedly gave the National Security Agency direct access to the systems of…
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Reading Women Writers #4: Isabel Allende – Daughter of Fortune
This is the fourth post in the Reading Women Writers series. Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune tells the story of Eliza Sommers, an orphan that was left at the doorstep of an English brother and sister…
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Guatemala in the News and The Bean Trees
Last week I wrote about Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees as the second novel in my Reading Women Writers series. I wanted to briefly revisit it because of the recent news from Guatemala: On Monday, a…
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Reading Women Writers #3: Tsitsi Dangarembga – Nervous Conditions
This is the third post in the Reading Women Writers series. From now on the posts will be somewhat less formal and won’t be using MLA citations. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions is set in 1960-70s Rhodesia…
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