Writing seems to have this increasingly outward-looking psychological mechanism–Margaret Atwood says that writing encourages a natural progression beyond one’s first hopes in art and beyond one’s narrow self: The third period [of my writing] runs from 1976 … to the present [1982]. It covers my growing involvement with human rights issues, which for me are…

In the NY Times Deborah Solomon asks and writer Douglas Coupland answers: How would you define the current cultural moment? I’m starting to wonder if pop culture is in its dying days, because everyone is able to customize their own lives with the images they want to see and the words they want to read…

It’s a pleasure to catch up with Stephen Kuusisto’s blog, Planet of the Blind.* Some recent highlights: We are listening for something; we’re trying to protect our souls. We want to know what words keep others alive; what words keep the soul reading. We want to make an ark out of this knowledge. But a…

Stephen Kuusisto’s Planet of the Blind posting on being a writer sets out a contrast between the exceptionalism that tempts a writer to pull rank based on the special work he/she does, on the one hand, and the need for tribal meaning that actually tempts lots of people to write (or participate in other arts,…

Discussing an organization serving a large group of journalists, Jay Rosen recently said that they were “evolving from (what was essentially) a professional club to a community of concern.” (40:25 of Rebooting the News #38) Both versions of the group are probably motivated substantially by a shared concern about the portion of the world they…

“Embodied differences,” writes Stephen Kuusisto, “are the nerve of our nation’s body politic.” And I am tempted by that term, by the feeling that it must have a reach a good deal beyond the topic of disability as he considers it in a recent blog post. The post itself begins with the writer markedly under…

If people are things, more or less, then we need not worry much about them; if we are teachers we need merely speak in their direction, test their recall, and so forth. The process can be almost entirely mechanical. But if they are people, watch out. Stephen Kuusisto‘s 12/13/09 posting, “A Largely Lonely Triumph: Disability…

This is a brainstorming piece. Let’s contrast two historical events, not equal in scale or importance but, I hope, suggestive. 1. Otto and Elise Hampel were beheaded in a Nazi prison in 1943 after what was perhaps a fruitless series of protests against Hitler’s regime. Never previously involved in politics, they were moved to action…

The November 2009 issue of Harper’s commences with an interesting essay by Steven Stoll on the significance of the “Little Ice Age,” a puzzling period of cold that made things tough for many human communities for a few hundred years starting around 1300, perhaps. I refer to it here, though, not for its environmental implications…

I’ve been thinking about the South Bend Tribune’s 9/30 editorial supporting area businessman Ibrahim Parlak in his years-long struggle to stay in this country. The editorial speaks of “the injustice and disproportionality of the federal government’s war on Parlak.” (Their link will expire on the 7th day.) Now if you wanted as a journalist or paper to…