The Anderson Files
The Anderson file: Poetry on a mission
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the celebrated poet and publisher of Beat Generation writers, argued in an essay in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1999 that poetry...
Ignored warnings of a premature DHS anti-fascist
In 1936, a fascist general named Francisco Franco staged an uprising against a democratically elected progressive government in Spain. Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany...
Trump lives in shadow of Watergate
Recently, long-time investigative reporter Jefferson Morley authored an eye-opening piece in The New Republic entitled “Democrats Are Trapped in Trump’s ‘Deep State’ War.” He...
Hope — if we are committed
In the last several years, a new conventional wisdom has emerged in the West about conflict in the Middle East. World leaders, public intellectuals,...
The hidden history of U.S.-Cuban relationship
It was a turning point. Beginning in 2013, the U.S. and Cuba began secret talks in Canada and Vatican City. In 2015, Barack Obama...
Oliver North, the NRA’s new poster boy
Oliver North recently became the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA). The organization’s CEO, Wayne LaPierre, said North “is a legendary warrior for...
It’s the health care, stupid
The United States currently has the highest per-capita health care expenditures in the world, yet we rank last among 11 developed countries for health...
What would Molly do?
These days, I wonder what Molly Ivins would think of today’s politics. Those of us who were fans called her Molly even if we...
History is in the telling
History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past. How we tell these stories — triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically...
Triptych and Trump
The uproar over Russian meddling in the U.S. election diverts our attention from the larger phenomenon of Russia’s support for far right movements in...
Lessons from rednecks and dumb bunnies
It was truly inspiring. Thousands of people sang and danced in West Virginia’s state capitol building in a victory celebration. They chanted: “Who made...
The pendulum swings
A year after Trump was elected president, we finally have something to smile about. This month’s elections brought a tidal wave of victories for Democrats...
