Commentary

Author Interview: Heather Cox Richardson on “Democracy Awakening”

September 22, 2023
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“The book in many ways is a defense of liberalism. It’s a defense of the idea that that’s really what the government should do in a democracy. The liberal consensus is what happens when you actually let people vote.”

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Arts Commentary: Chile’s 9/11 — the Undying and the Undead

September 19, 2023
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Two Chilean artists look at the death of democracy and the aftermath of the 1973 coup.

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Book Appreciation: Celebrating Kate Atkinson’s “Life After Life” –The Best Novel of the 21st Century

September 10, 2023
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In “Life After Life,” novelist Kate Atkinson has shown how boundless the imagination can be.

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Commentary: Brandeis University Axes the Arts

August 30, 2023
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Gutting a venerable department – particularly a world-renowned one that, by all accounts, delivers – in the name of belt-tightening is shortsighted and foolish.

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Film Commentary: The Heights and Depths, the Rise and Fall, of Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”

August 27, 2023
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In the end, what strikes me most about “Vertigo” is its melancholy, its aura of grief, its mood of inevitable, irredeemable loss.

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Arts Remembrance: Appreciating Robbie Robertson

August 11, 2023
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Robbie Robertson was born and raised in Canada but he seemed to understand the American myth better than most of his southern neighbors did.

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Book Review: “Free Them All” — The Case for Abolishing Prisons

August 1, 2023
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“Free Them All”‘s analysis of the broken prison system and the obstacles facing those determined to find solutions combines scholarly discipline with a powerful, emotional appeal for justice.

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Arts Remembrance: Tony Bennett (1926-2023)

July 22, 2023
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Tony Bennett’s enthusiasm for life and music was persuasive, even when it seems outsized.

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Arts Commentary: “Fast Car” — Mainstream Country’s Detour from Diversity

July 19, 2023
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Black and openly queer women are not allowed in the Nashville club. Secretly gay white men are not doing too badly, though.

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Theater Commentary: When Sorrows Come – Tragedy Befalls Regional Theater Companies

July 19, 2023
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Theater companies all over the country are cutting back or shutting down. And the bad news just keeps coming.

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