Author Archives: WorldWideWeber

Dud

Boy, that last entry (“Shifting”) was a stinker, wasn’t it? In the meantime I stumbled upon the Big Guy’s blog, and I can’t figure out whether it validates the effort of all us myriad scribblers* or invalidates it.** __________ *I mean, if He … Continue reading

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Shifting

A friend at work gave me an old bicycle (a Giant—that’s the name, don’t blame me). After I added a few essentials for commuting safely (rear-view mirror, front and back lights, etc.), the bike was ready to serve as a … Continue reading

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Meat

The local PBS station is begging for money again, and to get our attention they’re running old episodes of Julia Child‘s The French Chef. Last Saturday she made several dishes using potatoes. It was the first installment, apparently, from 1963— … Continue reading

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21

Twenty years ago today, Gabrielle turned one, and the weather was exactly like today: sunny, breezy, and unseasonably warm (77°F, as we speak). We had a picnic on the grass in front of our apartment building on 40th Place. I won’t … Continue reading

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Us

Noting the rise in anti-Arab racism and bigotry against Muslims in the US, Juan Cole dug deep in the Quran on Thursday to bust up the “clash of civilizations” meme. The Muslims are pretty much like us Christians and Jews, don’t … Continue reading

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Ricoeur

Periodically I receive a little magazine, Tableau, sent to escapees from the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. The Fall 2005/Winter 2006 issue reminded me that Wayne Booth had died and informed me that Paul Ricoeur had passed on as … Continue reading

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Imagineering

I hesitate to use a lovely term (coined, it seems by that great American Hondo Crouch) for an unlovely thing, but it struck me today that the word that best describes the behavior of the Bush Administration is imagineering. The self-proclaimed mayor … Continue reading

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Passion

The subject of passion arose recently in this electronic space, and it sprang loose a quote that I have yet to come to grips with, almost twenty years after encountering it as an epigraph to a book by Don Robertson: … Continue reading

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Khrushchev

Today is the 50th anniversary of Nikita Khrushchev‘s historic “secret speech” at the 20th Communist Party Congress in which he denounced Stalin and his brutal ways. The American historian William Taubman notes the “unintended consequences” of the speech: Khrushchev’s goal was to … Continue reading

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Thaw

According to the New York Times, if you want to have fun at the 2006 Winter Olympics, hang out with the Russians. Outside the Russia House, headquarters for the Russian delegation in Turin, a horde of people gathered at the … Continue reading

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