Monthly Archives: October 2008

Another Way for Mr. Lincoln

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Timothy Burke

The old mantra on the American right used to be that “conservatives have ideas”. I think even when that might have been said by conservatives with some degree of authentic confidence, it wasn’t always a statement about ideas, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | 2 Comments

Nationalism, in Passing

Posted on October 29, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Early in my career, I went to a presentation by a well-known anthropologist whose work I liked a lot. It was a good presentation, but the last quarter of it or so was devoted to a very loose, speculative argument … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments

Debate Notes

Posted on October 16, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’ll leave calling the horse race to other writers, but I had two small, specific reactions to the chunk of the debate that I watched. 1. When McCain brought up John Lewis’ remarks, here’s what I would have said back … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

What a Beautiful World

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Timothy Burke

When I was a teenager, I had a chance to spend some time in France with my family and another family we were friends with. I’ve only been back to France once since as an adult, so this time is … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Politics | 1 Comment

Puddleglum

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Is anybody else feeling just kind of totally depressed about the political and economic scene of the moment? And not just for the obvious reasons? As the possibility of an Obama victory becomes more and more tangible, I find myself … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 22 Comments

Gaze Into the Crystal Ball

Posted on October 7, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Everyone is prognosticating right now. I’m not immune. In those moments where genuine uncertainty enters the room in an undeniable way, we all desperately want to know what is happening, and what will happen next. One of my private pleasures … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Politics | 16 Comments

Artist Bleg

Posted on October 6, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’m looking for an example of a well-known visual artist who did a lot of black-and-white drawings with charcoal, pastels, or pencil-and-ink whose work was heavily tonal rather than involving a lot of line. This is for the life drawing … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 5 Comments

Always Never Sometimes Generalize

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Timothy Burke

In the discussion of my previous entry about Mark Edmundson’s essay, Alonzo raises a pretty fair challenge to the intensity of my reaction to that essay. I’ve been thinking about this issue a bit this morning. This is a discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging | 17 Comments