Lost in the Forest

I stumbled on this by accident: ‘Men in Veils:’ a Middle Eastern protest movement challenging gender roles I was Googling “men in veils” for apolitical reasons having to do with period costumes (long story). It seems to me that veils for men are nothing new. For medieval soldiers, chainmail coifs an

Is life without parole for teenagers cruel and unusual? If you believe that 14-year-olds should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, then you’re the one who should be locked up, because you’re a sadistic sociopath … Continue reading →

“Consider the case of the angry white woman” by Courtland Milloy That’s right, make it about race, make it about class, make it about anything but women’s rights – because the thought of women looking out for each other, fighting … Continue reading →

Suppose you’re walking down the road and you see a guy (let’s call him Joe) beating another guy with a bullwhip (let’s call him Sam). Do you say to yourself, “Wow, Joe must really feel sorry for Sam”? No, right? You say, “Wow, Joe is being incredibly mean to Sam!” So why is it that [...]

Way back in 2010, Kate Bernadette Benedict let me preview the manuscript for her second poetry collection, “In Company,” and I loved it so much I blurbed it. I know, I hate blurbs too (“luminous poems that explore what it … Continue reading →

Don’t write about that. It’s frivolous. It’s not important. It’s important, but not risky. It’s risky, but inauthentic. It’s authentic, but not ambitious. It’s ambitious, but it fails. It fails because it tries too hard. It’s too formal. It’s not … Continue reading →

Here are two contemporary poems, each glorious in its own way: “Some Sleep Deeper” by Suzanne Doyle “For a Relapse” by W. F. Roby The Doyle poem is lovely, evocative and stirring. It might be about heroin addiction, or it … Continue reading →

Here are two contemporary poems, each glorious in its own way: “Some Sleep Deeper” by Suzanne Doyle “For a Relapse” by W. F. Roby The Doyle poem is lovely, evocative and stirring. It might be about heroin addiction, or it might not. It could be about dreaming, or self-delusion. It’s probably best no