The Nature of Things

For inventiveness and creative thinking, Margaret Atwood has few peers in the world of modern literature, or, for that matter, in historical literature. One perhaps springs to mind: William Shakespeare.  How appropriate then that Atwood should have been chosen to participate in the Hogarth Shakespeare series of modern writers rewriting and adapting the Bard's stories for the modern world. Hers is the fourth book in that series. For her part in the project, Atwood chose what must be one of the more difficult plays to set in modern times, The Tempest . But then, again, it's utterly appropriate that she should give herself such a challenge. She is most definitely up to the task. I was completely blown away (Forgive my little "tempest" joke!) by Atwood's adaptation. It is an intrepid, no-holds-barred interpretation and it manages to give full recognition to the writer's stated desire for literature to be able to reach everyone, as well as remaining true to the ori...

Howard Nemerov writes in his poem "The Consent" of a phenomenon that I, too, have observed: the sudden overnight drop of leaves from a tree. One day the redbud tree is still full of leaves; the next day they are all on the ground - or, more likely, floating in my goldfish pond waiting for me to net them out. How does this happen? What is the secret signal they hear that tells them all to drop? And if this happens to leaves, can it happen to us, too? The Consent by Howard Nemerov Late in November, on a single night Not even near to freezing, the ginkgo trees That stand along the walk drop all their leaves In one consent, and neither to rain nor to wind But as though to time alone: the golden and green Leaves litter the lawn today, that yesterday Had spread aloft their fluttering fans of light.  What signal from the stars? what senses took it in? What in those wooden motives so decided To strike their leaves, to down their leaves, Rebellion or surrender? and if this Can happen ...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : More winter visitors have been showing up this week. One day, I looked out the window of my library/office to see a flock of Chipping Sparrows at my front yard feeder. Here's one from last year. On that same day, in the backyard, a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers made their way through the trees looking for insects. And all week long, I've been hearing Eastern Phoebes calling around the neighborhood.  Indeed, it seems like winter may be coming after all. At least these little birds think it is. *~*~*~* Project FeederWatch begins today and runs through early April. It is the citizen science project that provides information about the winter movements of birds. If you haven't signed up to participate yet, you can still do it anytime during the project period.  *~*~*~* Germany's coalition government has reached an agreement on a climate change action plan that involves reducing greenhouse gas emissi...

As you may have heard, the United States had a presidential election last Tuesday. One of the candidates, a uniquely qualified woman, received over 60 million votes, approximately 1.2 million votes more than her opponent.  So, naturally, her opponent, a misogynist, racist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, anti-science, admitted sexual predator, who seems incapable of moving his lips without lying, will become our next president.  This travesty is imposed on us by our anachronistic, profoundly undemocratic way of selecting our president and vice-president. These officers are not elected by the direct vote of citizens; the majority does not rule. Instead, they are selected by an outdated mechanism called the Electoral College , a product of our slave-holding beginnings as a nation. We are still paying the price of that original sin.  And so, for the second time in sixteen years, the candidate who received fewer votes in the election will become president. The will of the...

Is Michael Connelly bored with Harry Bosch? Hard to believe and yet three consecutive entries in this series have been sub-par, with this one being the weakest of the lot. Connelly is still going strong with the series; this one is number 15 and there are six more to go as I write this. Each new book still shows up on the best seller list, so maybe he got fresh inspiration and the books got better after this one, but that doesn't lessen my disappointment.  The book starts off interestingly enough and with the fast pace that we've come to expect from Connelly. The owner of a small liquor shop in South L.A. is shot to death in his shop. His name was John Li and he was known to Bosch from years before when he took refuge in the shop when he was working to control a riot in the area. He feels deeply moved by the man's death and promises his family that he will find his killer. It soon develops that cultural differences will play a part in the investigation. The murdered man was...

Nasty women, let's do this! Cartoon by John Deering of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.