Tag: United States

  • On Being an Intellectual…

    education
    education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

     

    Some people would think being smart means talking in big words about things nobody really understands. Of course, if one has learned enough SAT words from their SAT prep course with more than ten letters and is probably pronouncing them correctly (or, in some cases – like I sometimes do – use obsolete, long-dead words or their archaic pronunciation, pour l’amour de l’art (for the love of art), so to say, or, if this is indeed a linguistic troll/punk (as in the music and all, not necessarily the original meaning) – again, like I sometimes am –  most likely doing this pour les fleurs de coucou (for no apparent reason). (more…)

  • Unnamed soldiers: secret heroes, great causes, death and glory

    Napoleon Crossing the Alps
    Napoleon Crossing the Alps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

    We all watched and maybe even loved stories of great heroes – kings, queens, generals – leading their armies to victory or glorious defeat. Each country or culture has its own such historical names that may have existed or not, and there are international names acknowledged and respected internationally. Nevertheless, we know about Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon and so on to name some less politically controversial names, but what do we know about all the nameless foot-soldiers that fought in the first lines?

     

    This post will be dedicated to these people and their portrayal in literature and in media, more or less contemporary. (more…)

  • My Face to the Light: Alice Walker’s Thoughts about Christmas

    Cover of "Anything We Love Can be Saved"
    Cover of Anything We Love Can be Saved

    As I was reading Alice Walker (best known for her book The Color Purple) collection of essays entitled Anything We Love Can Be Saved, I thought her ideas only represented me on an abstract – perhaps metaphorical level. I can relate to her situation only in certain aspects, others I can’t even begin to understand. In my opinion, she is rather centred around a purpose and she definitely has a leit-motif (the Goddess, for example), but, as I said, I don’t fully understand her situation, so I won’t be judging her for some linguistic clichés (I know I have mine, and I’m pretty sure each individual, social/enthic group or country has plenty as well!).

    In any case, from the whole book, I chose an essay that I think is still very much current, even after fourteen years. It’s about Christmas and its sometimes empty, sometimes ideologically charged stories. First, the subtitle is quite interesting and very much poetic: “seed catalogs like paper flowers”. (more…)