Page 122
June 21, 2009
Aware that Squier did not share his sentiments on slavery, Nott explained that he “had to mix a little sweet sauce with it in the way of Politics, Sectional feeling &c–religion you know is a funny thing–a man’s conscience is always on the side of his interest–” He had recently lost by shipwreck “upwards of $300 worth of rare scientific” works ordered from Europe and hoped the Lectures would sell enough copies to make up the loss. He was sure it would be favorably received “at the South where the public mind is at present morbidly excited about the nigger business.”
–The Leopard’s Spots: Scientific Attitudes Toward Race in America 1815-59, William Stanton
Page 325
June 9, 2009
“I am as American as April in Arizona.” -Nabokov in 1966.
Page 15
June 2, 2009
From Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour:
I hope in countries where people are proud of their democracies and live confident of a secure future, no one ever has to worry about the books they borrow from a library. I pray that whenever they want, without fear of the future, they can at least read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair or the dull and artless The Iron Heel, a bad work by a relatively good writer who drank too much whiskey and wanted to replace American democracy with Animal Farm democracy.
PDFs
June 2, 2009
From the Indy archives:
A review of Jeff Wall at the MoMA
A review of “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
A piece on the transformation of Providence’s Jewelry District
A piece on Buddy Cianci’s return to Providence
A piece on the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence
A piece on the S-CHIP renewal and children’s health in Rhode Island
“R.I. mustn’t cut civics position”
June 2, 2009
Providence Journal, March 12 (for my job):
RHODE ISLAND and America in general are in a fiscal crisis that also seems to be a crisis of government. In response, the Rhode Island Board of Regents plans to cut the sole statewide civics-education position, along with funding for civics professional development. The state has historically underperformed at teaching its students the fundamentals of civic participation. Now, just when we are beginning to catch up — and just when we could surely use a critical, well-informed electorate — the state is throwing in the towel on civics.
