By Adam Katz One of my favorite new activities is writing a blog post and having someone I care about bring it up in conversation. I like doing the reverse, as well, not surprisingly. My recent Big Think, about trying to shed the homophobic bias I was invisibly raised with, led to an amazing conversation…
Author: Adam Katz
Some Thoughts on The Color Purple
A Postscript to Adam’s Big Think #2 By Adam Katz First of all, what an awesome book. I find it interesting when an author goes all in on accents and dialects, as if to demonstrate that it can be done without compromising the respect the reader owes the characters. As if to say: it’s not…
“Literally” has Legit been Replaced
By Adam Katz One of my two or three favorite professors in college was Barbara Jeanne Fields. I want to spend all of my time saying everything I know about her, because she amazing and has an amazing life-story, but suffice the subject of today’s musing is professor’s Fields’s conservative feelings about the written word…
Performing at the Cringe Festival: Becoming an Ally
Early on in my relationship with my very first girlfriend, she told me about how she broke the exciting news to her friends that she was dating someone new: this guy who has all these interests: he likes to knit and listen to opera and draw and play piano, and… To which her friends responded:…
Picture of Erika’s (Most Camera-Loving) Cat
For anyone who has been reading Erika’s gorgeous, soul-searching articles of late and wondering: where does she find the balance between inner fire and inner calm that would allow her to write like that, we trust this picture raises far more questions than it will ever answer. Spread the love
That’s it. I’m done with Stradivarius Violins
Stradivarius is a Scam I’ve never been a violinist; I don’t remember doing more than picking up (with their permission) a friend’s violin and trying it with the bow. I probably made a sound like a Tuvan throat-singer, and alas, not in a good way. But I have played piano for going on 30 years,…
Mass-Grave found in Canada Dates from only about 45 Years Ago
By Adam Katz It gives me little pleasure to write this article, but I could not see failing to respond. Throughout most of the 20th century, Canada ran “Residential Schools” meant to deprive the aboriginal population of their culture. Yesterday, Friday, May 28, 2021, a mass grave was found beneath one of those schools. This…
Whitman’s Thrush
Walt Whitman at 202 By Adam Katz I guess most school-age kids read “O Captain, my Captain” at some point. Looking back at it now, it’s a poem you have to read quickly, I think. The line “O heart! heart! heart! / O the bleeding drops of red” does not really admit slowing down and…
Nikole Hannah-Jones Gets a Seat at the Table. Maybe. For Now.
The 1619 Project was co-founded by Nikole Hannah-Jones. in addition to being a massive effort of journalism and scholarship, was a serious headline grabber in the last couple years. Despite inevitable arguments in a project this big, it isn’t so much controversial as it is a target for people who do not want to acknowledge…
Author Kyle Lukoff Spoke about being Censored
I met Kyle in college, before he was a recognized author. It’s been weird watching this controversy roil around him. I may say more at a different time. But for now: Kyle just gave the following speech about his books being banned from schools in Utah, Texas, and presumably elsewhere. The speech is gorgeous and…