The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin
They were two girls dressed in raggedy clothes, standing beneath the awning of the hardware store. Their faces were dirty, their hair tangled, their bodies distended. They were pregnant. Both of them. And hungry. William Talmadge had driven his wagon filled with apples and apricots to town that Sunday morning. He set up his fruit […]
The Republican Response
On January 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated, twelve Republican lawmakers gathered in a private dining room of an exclusive Washington restaurant. The meeting lasted for four hours. Before they parted, each of the Senators and Representatives
Drift, The Unmooring of American Military Power, by Rachel Maddow
Drift, by Rachel Maddow, explores the ways in which our country has drifted from what was once a peace-loving nation to a country constantly at war. Where once we fought wars
A Separation, Best Foreign Film in 2012
A Separation, the movie that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture, begins in an Iranian court of law. Simin (played by Leila Hatami) and Nadar (Peyman Moaadi), an upper-middle class couple, are seeking a divorce. They sit before a judge and argue their case: Simin wants to take their eleven-year-old daughter out of the […]
Secular Law Trumps Religious Law
“Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” unless religion goes off a cliff. When that happens, secular law trumps religious law. History is full of examples
The Grey, starring Liam Neeson
The Grey, starring Liam Neeson, is such a travesty, I hardly know where to begin. This movie is so bad, it offends on so many levels, it’s so full of misinformation, I truly want my money back. In one of the first scenes, Neeson kills a wolf
Nightwoods by Charles Frazier
The first line of Frazier’s new novel pulls you in: “Luce’s new stranger children were small and beautiful and violent.” You just can’t quit after a line like that; you have to go on. Follow with “The children loved fire above all elements of creation,” and you have the beginnings of a tale of crime […]
A Stolen Life, by Jaycee Dugard
Phillip Garrido, the low-life who kidnapped eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard and held her prisoner for 18 years, was sentenced to 431 years in prison for his unspeakable crimes. Nancy, his wife, got 36 years. A Stolen Life, written by Jaycee Dugard, is the story of what happened
