Monthly Archives: July 2009

An Introduction to Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part 1

Note: References below are to Harvey Mansfield’s translation of The Prince,  Second Edition, University of Chicago Press. I am a student of Leo Paul de Alvarez and cannot recommend his (de Alvarez’s) work highly enough: if you can buy his edition of The Prince, do so, especially as the essay he has written introducing the …

July 7, 2009 – 5:16 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics | Tagged | Comments (11)

Yes, I like fireworks as much as anyone else, but…

…my parents’ house is right next to a small stadium where the township launches fireworks. The fireworks themselves were beautiful; even when the show slowed to one or two every so often, they lit up the sky with a certain grace. And it was a lot of fun to see families congregate and just be …

July 4, 2009 – 10:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal, politics | Comments (3)

Nameless: Some Thoughts on Frost’s “The Gift Outright,” for July 4th

The Gift Outright Robert Frost The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England’s, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more …

July 3, 2009 – 7:24 pm | By ashok | Posted in frost, poetry | Comments (9)

Links, 7/1/09

More Iran commentary from Ario (dated 6/27). Not the best news. Alice Shapiro has some “experimental writing” by Wallace Stevens & herself up at the blog. Whenever Stacey Nosek writes something, I think it’s awesome. I recently revisited one of her earlier commentaries on the fine show “I Love Money.”

July 1, 2009 – 2:58 pm | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)