Monthly Archives: August 2006

What to do with past posts?

One of the reasons why I love blogging is the constant electronic archiving of one’s work. In fact, I’m a big believer that quality older work in a blog is not something to sneeze at, for it gives the blog a staying quality, even if no one actually reads those entries (perhaps the quality is …

August 5, 2006 – 10:24 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging | Tagged | Comments (4)

On Yeats’ "The Choice:" Is there a purely intellectual life?

The Choice W.B. Yeats The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life, or of the work, And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark. When all that story’s finished, what’s the news? In luck or out the toil has left its mark: That old …

August 5, 2006 – 12:42 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

Journalism as an Ethic

Reading: Order Vs Disorder: Iraq and Civil War Josh makes the point that the media is driven by sensationalism and, to a lesser degree, by pieties they perceive sell. It is no mistake the media is on the Left for the most part because they believe their brand of Truth is what has caused progress …

August 4, 2006 – 12:57 pm | By ashok | Posted in media | Tagged | Comments (1)

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary – photos by Paul Drozdowski This is not a study in decay as much as a record of what has decayed. Over and over in these photos we have to consider what is and what was. The brightness of light and the solidity of certain geometric forms, forms that always look like …

August 4, 2006 – 12:14 am | By ashok | Posted in writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Annoying New York Socialites

This article was brought to my attention by Amber because she doesn’t want spaces in law school wasted on people like this. Fair enough. I want to ask a different question – to what degree is this puff piece so ridiculous and so vapid that the writer is intentionally mocking his subject? Edit: He absolutely …

August 3, 2006 – 5:36 pm | By ashok | Posted in education, media | Comments (3)

"Empirical facts" regarding Israel’s War with Hezbollah

Setting aside the moral issues, the empirical fact is that Israel’s actions are working against its security interests. If Israel rigidly insists on massive retaliation for every provocation, it becomes the prisoner of Hizbollah and its allies, including Iran. Hizbollah can plunge the entire region into chaos at will, because Israel will inevitably rise to …

August 2, 2006 – 7:19 am | By ashok | Posted in politics | Comments (6)

On Woody Allen

The entire audience was geriatric. There wasn’t a person in the theater — in a decent crowd, by the way — who was under 50 and most won’t see 60 again. Not one hair follicle — those left — carried its natural color of youth. My son personally lowered the mean age in the place …

August 2, 2006 – 5:02 am | By ashok | Posted in movies | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The Unity of Justice and Fraternity: On Lincoln’s "Second Inaugural"

Commentary below the speech, that makes sense of the speech paragraph-by-paragraph. My apologies for the format of this post; I hope you will read it in its entirety, and if you have suggestions about how it ought to look, do tell. Second Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln At this second appearing to take the oath of …

August 2, 2006 – 3:21 am | By ashok | Posted in lincoln, politics | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

The Beginning

The last blog had a lot of high points – some very high points – and I wholly expected it to get an audience. That was a mistake. I didn’t understand that the garish design of the blog worked hugely against me, and I didn’t really understand what community at that blog site meant. I …

August 1, 2006 – 10:38 pm | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)