Category Archives: Memoir

Nudnikerie: My Album of Antisemites

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Abigail

Nudnikerie: My Album of Antisemites Nudnik: “A nudnik is not just a nuisance; to merit the status of nudnik, a nuisance must be the most persistent, talkative, obnoxious, indomitable, and indefatigable nag.” The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, non-violence, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", ad hominem attack, bigotry, Christian friends, collegiality violated, dangerous pessimism, dark corners, dark memory, double standard, European Femininity, European women, evasion, G.I. Bride, German complicity, good guys, groupthink, Hitler’s reading list, Hitler’s sport events, in the wrong job, insulting speech, Jerry L. Martin's "God: an Autobiography as Told to a Philosopher", Jewish neighbors, Jewish opinion, loaded questions, memory, naturalistic worldview, outdoor cafes, outdoor prayer, peaceniks, personal stories, picking a quarrel, prayer as last resort, religious experience, religious turn, requirements of priesthood, self-deception, self-righteousness, Shoah, talking to God, the Holocaust, the human soul, the Other, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, war-time trauma, womanly arts, wrong life path, wrong vocation | Leave a comment

Homage to Milbridge

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Abigail

Homage to Milbridge Last week, Jerry and I spent two whole days in Milbridge, Maine, bookended by travel days of which (the return trip) the less said the better. About the state of Maine, I smile when, looking down, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Afterlife, Art, Art of Living, beauty, Childhood, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Immortality, Law, Legal Responsibility, Love, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, relationships, Religion, Roles, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, "You Can't Go Home Again", Abigail's Adages, Alentejo Coast, babes in the woods, Bangor Airport, barrel racing, canoeing, cantering, city slickers, coming home, damaging stories, death of parents, defamation, defamation disbelieved, divorce, Downeast, Ellsworth Maine, familiar landscapes, first marriage, fishing village, fun days, half acre, homecoming, imaginary feeling, job fight, landscapes, last illness, local ghosts, local sage, Maine, Maine Coast Memorial Hospital, Milbridge Day, Milbridge Maine, more fish in the sea, Narraguagus Bay, New York apartment, orphaned, outdoor games, parental presence, philosophic manuscript, picnics, Portugal, posthumous manuscript, posthumous publication, precognition, proofs of ownership, real feeling, reviews, right-of-way, rodeo, rural adventures, rural property, sailing, saleable property, selling the house, sense of direction, shore strip, slander, southern mansion, state fair, telling the whole town, town events, travel days, trials of life, triumphs of life, unsaleable property, unseen presences, victorious fights | Leave a comment

Wingeing, Death and Debility

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Abigail

Wingeing, Death and Debility Years ago, I was in the Australian Blue Mountains, climbing the rockiest, thorniest, steepest wilderness trail that I could ever hope never to find. We were a troop of philosophers from Sydney University’s Department of General … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged afterlife evidence, Australia, Blue Mountains of Australia, bush walk, Christian salvation, conversion, conversion to Judaism, death as the end, death of friends, departed friends, evidence of things unseen, fashionable doubt, fashionable opinion, fashionable skepticism, heaven, how to die, how to live, intelligent hope, kvetching, mikvah, mortality, outdoorsmen, philosophic friendship, Philosophy Department, preparation for death, remembering the departed, rock climbing, self-knowledge, Socrates, soul and body, Spinoza, stiff upper lip, stoicism, surviving death, Sydney University, the afterlife, The New York Book Review, The New York Review of Books, the next life, vale of tears, wilderness trail, wingeing, women friends | 2 Comments

In the Hall of Mourning, There are Many Mansions

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Abigail

In the Hall of Mourning, There are Many Mansions A friend got in touch Sunday evening a week ago to tell me he’d been scheduled for the gravest kind of surgery in the morning. My friend has been a colleague … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged argument with God, beauty of youth, Biblical characters, brain surgery, collegial friendship, collegiality, death, death and spirituality, death of Moses, doing what one says, End-of-Life, faithfulness, field of action, ghost in the machine, grownup life, heroic treatment, innocence, integrating thought and action, life aims, life and death, life lessons, meaning of death, meaning of life, medical experts, medical verdicts, midrash, mind and body, mind/body harmony, mind/body problem, original sin, philosophy as learning how to die, post-surgical report, put together life, relative innocence, reliability, Sarah as a bride, Socrates, the rough and the smooth, theological doctrines, through thick and thin, timely death, truth seeker, untimely death, wrongly accused, young David, young Joseph | Leave a comment

Shunning

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Abigail

Shunning We are social beings, so nobody likes to be shunned. I first encountered shunning after I wrote a letter to Proceedings and Addresses. That’s the journal where schedules for philosophic meetings are posted, academic publishers place ads for their … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AAUW, abrasive manner, academic publisher, APA’s Memorial Minutes, APA’s Presidential Address, APA’s Proceedings and Addresses, borough president, cattiness, censoring dissent, Committee of Public Safety, congressman, Cotton Mather, CUNY Board of Trustees, derogatory remarks, dining alone, discrimination against women, enjoying solitude, errors of fact and logic, ethnic facial features, feminist controversy, feminist philosophers, feminist self-criticism, first Puerto Rican, ganging up, gay feminists, gender discrimination, getting denounced, groupthink, Harvard presidency, Herman Badillo, imaginary crimes, Larry Summers, losing political power, loss of power, Mayans and Incas, mean girls, moment of silence, Moral psychology, Parisian aristocrats, philosophic journal, Place de la Revolution, political enemies, political influence, political rivalry, pre-Columbian appearance, public higher ed, public space, Salem witch trials, sensitive remarks, shunning, Social beings, social climbing, social demotion, speaking one’s mind, Stephen Vincent Benét, the Guillotine, the right people, the tumbrils, thought police, unsung heroes, virtue signaling, woman philosopher, women and academics, women in hard science, women’s professors | Leave a comment

Sacrificial Acts

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Abigail

Sacrificial Acts A review of mine, written in support of an author I greatly admire, was just accepted for publication. It was written at the sacrifice of long-postponed time and energy that, right now, I really needed to expend … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Art of Living, Autonomy, books, bureaucracy, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, 17th Century Philosophers, academia, altruism, “Brooklyn Connections”, Benedict Spinoza, Brooklyn College, career advancement, career sacrifice, college curriculum, deathbed promise, expecting pay off, expecting rewards, faculty fight, father fixation, father/daughter relationships, finding balance, getting published, happy endings, higher education, honoring commitments, impromptu speech, invited speaker, Jerry L. Martin, job struggle, knowing what is due, Life Force, love at first sight, love sight unseen, modern philosophy, online editors, online publications, overcoming the ego, personal life, posthumous work, professional advancement, professional reputation, professional standing, providence, publication, self-sacrifice, setting priorities, strategic acumen, tea with friends, teaching obligations, Thomas Hobbes, unexpected rewards, unjust firing, unpublished manuscript, unselfishness | 2 Comments

Kosher?

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Abigail

Kosher? O dear. This is what you call a “vexed” topic. A couple of years back, in my temple’s Saturday Torah Study, we came to verses that spell out what you are and aren’t supposed to eat, if you’re Jewish. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, politics, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged apostles quarrelling, Atheism, Bible study, Book of Acts, filial piety, Galatians, keeping kosher, keeping the law, kosher, kosher kitchen, mitzvot, observant Jews, real and false gods, secular gods, secular Jews, secular readers, secularism, Torah Study | Leave a comment

	Abigail on Wingeing, Death and Debil…
	Penny Heiple, Three… on Wingeing, Death and Debil…
	Homage to Milbridge… on Abigail’s Adages
	Abigail on Sacrificial Acts
	Prudence Lezy on Sacrificial Acts

Category Archives: Memoir

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