Another edition is upon us and rather than abating, the BP oil spill has moved Beyond Pollution as efforts to stop the hemorrhage by injecting trash simply added more waste to the toxic mess. One can only hold one's breath and hope that the marshes, fishes, and humans in the poisoned Gulf Coast path are as resilient as JD Salinger, whose influence continues despite his recent burial -- at least, as Peter Byrne reports, according to Nobel Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clézio. Just as Salinger's characters touched a generation, so too did Brando and Dean influence disenchanted youth. Charles Marowitz considers social behavior, method acting, and how we all -- actors and non-actors alike -- act out. Cultural icons are also the subject of our book reviews, with Louis Proyect on the life and death of herpetologist and snake wrangler Joe Slowinski -- a legitimate scientist with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and Paul Buhle on Ronald Cohen's biography of the late Archie Green, folklorist and a mentor to a generation of scholars of political music. And reporting from the field, Steve Shay recently interviewed Bill Gates Sr., and was asked the predictable interview question. Shay relates the journalist's quagmire between on-the-record spin and off-the-record reality.
Turning our attention to sociopolitical matters, Maxwell Clark reviews Harold Bloom's critique of the "new" anti-Semitism and Michael Doliner considers measurements and scientific rigor to dispel the myth of self-delusional comfort in which we are merely outside looking in. On the African front, Michael Barker examines George Soros and South Africa's elite transition from apartheid to polyarchy, while Femi Akomolafe bids adieu to Nigeria's president Yar'Adua, the most recent in a succession of self-serving elite who squandered the nation's oil wealth while leaving its people to scavenge for sustenance. Meanwhile, Gilles d'Aymery is working hard on rebuilding the rotten deck at Swans headquarters with his old friend Frank Wycoff as the master builder-in-chief, so we take this opportunity to bring three of Aymery's early, prescient articles on economic and social conditions in the USA, demonstrating that the Great Recession was indeed predictable by those willing to take a serious look.
Finally, we close with the poetry of Marie Rennard, the linguistic blending of Viviana Fiorentino and Guido Monte, and your letters, including Steve Shay's correction to Jonah Raskin's otherwise enjoyable travelogue; Peter Byrne's follow-on to Charles Marowitz's H.L. Mencken; Christian Cottard and Marie Rennard getting it right; and some thoughts on ethics and how to revolutionize American thinking.
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Peter Byrne: J.D.'s Long Shadow
J.D. Salinger's influence continues, at least according Nobel prize winner J.M.G. Le Clézio. More...
Charles Marowitz: Acting Out
Charles Marowitz considers social behavior, method acting, and how we all -- actors and non-actors alike -- act out. More...
Louis Proyect: Jamie James's The Snake Charmer
The life and death of herpetologist and snake wrangler Joe Slowinski -- a legitimate scientist with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. More...
Paul Buhle: Ronald Cohen's Work and Sing
Paul Buhle reviews the history of work and song as told by folk music scholar Ronald Cohen. More...
Steve Shay: "Is That Thing On?"
Journalist Steve Shay explains the interviewer's quagmire between on-the-record spin and off-the-record reality. More...
Maxwell Clark: Harold Bloom On The Jewish Question
A review of Harold Bloom's critique of the new anti-Semitism. More...
Michael Doliner: The Scientific World Picture
Michael Doliner considers measurements and scientific rigor to dispel the myth of self-delusional comfort in which we are merely outside looking in. More...
Michael Barker: George Soros And South Africa's Elite Transition
A critique of George Soros's role in the end of apartheid in South Africa. More...
Femi Akomolafe: Goodbye, President Umoru Yar'Adua
Though one should not speak ill of the dead, Femi Akomolafe illustrates why the late Nigerian president Umoru Yar'Adua left the country in worse shape than before he became leader. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Let'em Eat Cake
Written in October 1999, this three-part series presented a clear overview of the American economic and political system, the impoverishment of the majority with huge transfert of wealth to the top, the collusion between elected officers and corporate interests, and the advent of corpocracy -- a look at the past to understand the present. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: The Tribulations Of The Toads
Written in July 2002, this piece is a reminder that contrary to official declarations the current systemic crisis was quite predictable. Utterly grotesque, this insane system, while bound to eventually disintegrate, continues to exert immense suffering and damages to people and nature. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Generosity and Regulations
Written in October 1996, this article depicts the insanity of the no-taxes, no-regulations paradigm of which the elites are so fond. It is accompanied by a translation of an 1850 internal regulation for the employees of a company located in Chaumont, France -- a clear exemple of "the enlightenment and generosity of business owners, shareholders and corporate boardrooms." More...
Marie Renard: Cuban Heavens
He fell head over heels for a Cuban girl before getting caught falling head over heels. More...
Viviana Fiorentino & Guido Monte: Ins Leben (To The Life)
Monte and Fiorentino dream the "primeval breath" of Nature. More...
A correction to Jonah Raskin's otherwise enjoyable travelogue; a follow-on to Charles Marowitz's H.L. Mencken; fan mail (en francais) for Christian Cottard and Marie Rennard; and some thoughts on ethics and how to revolutionize American thinking. More...
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