Tag: rants

Margaret Atwood: nice essay, shame you screwed up the ending

Lots of people (just today, for some reason) are pointing me to Margaret Atwood’s essay in the Globe & Mail last week attacking Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s comment on arts funding. Naturally the people pointing it out see as a masterful bit of skewering of the Prime Minister. I think she hurt her cause among …

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I’m still in the middle!

I haven’t taken one of these politica compass tests for a while, so I thought I’d take a stab at this one and see if I’m still right in the middle of the political spectrum. You are a Social Moderate(55% permissive)and an… Economic Moderate(50% permissive)You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test …

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A political rant we can all get behind

Everyone’s ranting about politics today, it seems, so I guess I should, too. But since my range of acquaintances runs from gay socialist actors through libertarian atheist science fiction writers all the way over to conservative fundamentalist preachers, all of whom just seem to assume that all the Right People agree entirely with their positions …

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"Critical Times for Critical Thinking"

Here’s a rather depressing essay that ties in with my post about high school debate ruining my blogging career. As Elizabeth Scalia asks: “How can significant issues be tackled when a culture of cynicism and relativism has destroyed appreciation for the truth?”

"Critical Times for Critical Thinking"

Here’s a rather depressing essay that ties in with my post about high school debate ruining my blogging career. As Elizabeth Scalia asks: “How can significant issues be tackled when a culture of cynicism and relativism has destroyed appreciation for the truth?”

"Critical Times for Critical Thinking"

Here’s a rather depressing essay that ties in with my post about high school debate ruining my blogging career. As Elizabeth Scalia asks: “How can significant issues be tackled when a culture of cynicism and relativism has destroyed appreciation for the truth?”

"Grow up, SF people!" says Richard Morgan

SF writer Richard Morgan has a terrific post about the curious need within the SF&F community to denigrate those within the community who write or read stuff that we, ourselves, might not choose to write or read. Me, I’m pretty eclectic in my SF&F tastes, as both a writer and a reader, so I’m with …

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Set art free from gibberish!

Thus asks Ann Althouse: Why do museum curators post such nonsensical texts on the walls next to the artwork they want us to take seriously? It’s a question I’ve asked myself: here’s the arts column I wrote on this topic a few years ago. *** Visual art and the text that explains it are uneasy …

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The first sentence I wrote today…and a horrible discovery

I’ve fallen down on the “first sentence I wrote today” posts, I admit, but since I need to tuck away a cool 2,000-plus words every day this month to meet my deadline, I think I’d better resume them. So here’s today’s: “Who are you?” Emily click-spoke.Out of context, it sounds like she was sticking a …

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The first sentence I wrote today…and a horrible discovery

I’ve fallen down on the “first sentence I wrote today” posts, I admit, but since I need to tuck away a cool 2,000-plus words every day this month to meet my deadline, I think I’d better resume them. So here’s today’s: “Who are you?” Emily click-spoke.Out of context, it sounds like she was sticking a …

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Sometimes being a freelancer sucks

Take today, for instance. I just found out that a major project I thought I would be writing has fallen through…and it was one I was really looking forward to. (No, I hasten to reassure you, not the sequel to Marseguro: as far as I know, Terra Insegura is still a go.) And it’s not …

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"The most important words in journalism"

From GetReligion, a blog that examines the coverage of religion in the mainstream media, these words of wisdom: It’s a mantra that I have used with my students for years now. Repeat after me: The most important words in journalism are “comma, space, said, space, name, period.” In other words, mainstream journalism is not supposed …

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