Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4564 )

• Redacted

  

  A friend recently introduced me to Redactle.  Yet another of those daily internet games that have become trendy in these pandemic years, Redactle gives you a... Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Solstice Thoughts

  

  At the equator, the difference is nil.  The longest day and the shortest day don’t deviate from the standard day length.  The further you move from the... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Devils and Days

  

  The kind of devil envisioned by Andrew Michael Hurley in Devil’s Day may not be the traditional one, but it’s scary nevertheless. Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Celebrate Juneteenth

  

  It’s everywhere you look.  Prison statistics.  Poverty statistics.  Gun violence statistics.  We gave lip service to ending slavery but never really made our... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Thanking Teachers

  

  Those who know me personally are often surprised to hear that my high school gym teacher was one of the most influential people in my life.  It is true. Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Godic

  

  I have tried, in my halting way, to articulate what religion has to do with horror. Alison Milbank is more experienced than I and it shows in her book God and... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Bright Idea

  

  No, I didn’t see a long tunnel with a light at the end, but I did have soot on my hands from the flash.  I’m no electrician and the ordering instructions weren’... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Old Ghosts

  

  As someone who reads about ghost stories, as well as ghost stories themselves, I’ve long been aware of M. R. James. His Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is regarde... Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Souls, All

  

  What is a soul?  Can you lose your job for believing in one?  Well, maybe not lose your job, but be placed on paid leave.  Yesterday’s New York Times ran a stor... Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Updating Irving

  

  Movie quality is measured by many standards. It’s pretty clear that budgets can make a difference—Hollywood movies generally outshine television movies. Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Fragmented

  

  The existentialists, remember, used to put scenes in their plays to remind you that you were indeed watching a play.  In keeping with their philosophy, there wa... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Free Reality

  

  One thing movies can do especially well is to make you question reality. Early on this was more or less literally true as people couldn’t believe what they... Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Paper Not Paper

  

  I’m sure other people have this problem.  I read hardback books with the dust jacket off.  Lest anyone accuse me of being consistent, my wife reminds me that I... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Whiggery

  

  It’s difficult to keep track sometimes.  You see, I’m reading a book that makes frequent reference to the Whigs.  The thing about titles is they change meaning... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Short-Changed

  

  Time often feels short.  When we back it up against the pencil marks on the doorpost we find it seems to shrink with its own passing.  It is nevertheless... Read more

  Posted on 08 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Various Plagues

  

  At the encouragement of a friend I watched Roger Corman’s version of Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. As I’ve mentioned from time to time lately, making... Read more

  Posted on 07 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Slow Running

  

  It’s extremely slow.  In fact, you might think nothing is happening at all.  I mean the book publishing process, of course.  It takes a long time to read 60,000... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• State and Church

  

  An interesting article by Grace Davie notes how Patriarch Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus´, has been backing Vladimir Putin in his war of... Read more

  Posted on 05 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Aleph, Borges

  

  I’m never quite sure how I’m supposed to approach books of short stories. Some of them are truly massive and contain only a handful of tales I wish to read. Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Heat Wave

  

  Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future wasn’t my favorite book read the first half of this year, but reading the headlines about India’s heatwave... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY