Tag Archives: academic politics

“How to Pick Your Fights”

“How to Pick Your Fights”  “I’ve been perfect,” said Ammon Hennacy, pacifist, anarchist and dedicated Platonic lover of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement. He had taken my arm as we walked the picket line together. “I’ve had to … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, autonomy, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, modernism, non-violence, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, race, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“Worldliness”

“Worldliness”  My father, the late Henry M. Rosenthal, was the antithesis of a worldly man. “He never made a useful friend,” as someone said who was well placed to know. Speaking at his memorial service, a college classmate recalled, “We … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, modernism, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, theism, time, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“All About My Mother”

“All About My Mother” Unlike me, my mother would give advice, solicited and unsolicited.  For example: “Never tell other people your sexual history or how much money you have.  That’s Life Capital.” In the little town in Maine where my … Continue reading

Posted in academe, culture, femininity, philosophy, political, relationships, the examined life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments