First Derivative [19]
Hope everyone had a great 4th!
Next few weeks, I'll be transitioning this over to Mailchimp and experimenting with format. If you have strong feelings about that one way or the other, let me know.
Shakespeare's Cure for Xenophobia
I attended university in a very different world from the one in which I now teach and live. For a start, Yale College, which I entered in 1961, was all male. Women were not matriculated until five years after I had received my B.A. degree. Among…
I really enjoyed reading this piece and tend to agree with Greenblatt's views on the complexity of our cultural inheritances. A complexity, that asks for a more 'magnanimous' treatment than the reductive responses some controversial works receive.—TK
Happy Ambition: Success, Status Cocaine, and Happiness
Why do billionaires, CEOs, and other titans of industry work so hard? Why do they maintain such relentless professional ambition? Look up and down the Forbes 400 list and you'll find hedge fund managers who already have a lot going for them—…
Don't usually enjoy pieces like this but I did enjoy this one, especially because I'm interested in work/leisure and the social pscyhology behind it.—TK
Looking Back to Look Forward: Blacks, Liberty, and the State
Libertarians tend to think of freedom as either a means to an end of maximum utility—e.g., free markets produce the most wealth—or, in a more philosophical sense, in opposition to arbitrary authority—e.g., “Who are you…
I'm not a libertarian but I think this is a good viewpoint inside that dialogue that makes a strong case for reevaluating the way libertarians view race in the US. This is a good example of a nuanced and thoughtful advocacy on the topic, agree or not.—TK
The Man Behind Trump's Voter Fraud Obsession
Kris Kobach likes to bill himself as “the A.C.L.U.'s worst nightmare.” The Kansas secretary of state, who was a champion debater in high school, speaks quickly for a rural Midwesterner, with the confidence of a man who holds degrees…
The election commission Korbach vice-chairs just requested the voter rolls of all 50 states. Names, addresses, age, SS#, military status, etc.—TK
The Astonishing Rise of Angela Merkel
A summer afternoon at the Reichstag. Soft Berlin light filters down through the great glass dome, past tourists ascending the spiral ramp, and into the main hall of parliament. Half the members' seats are empty. At the lectern, a short, slightly…
I'm trying to read more about Merkel and Putin as persons. I think I may have read this before but it was interesting to read it again as her profile has become more prominent, in relief of Trump—TK
In North Korea, 'Surgical Strike' Could Spin Into 'Worst Kind of Fighting'
The standoff over North Korea 's nuclear program has long been shaped by the view that the United States has no viable military option to destroy it. Any attempt to do so, many say, would provoke a brutal counterattack…
Both stories involving Korea this week are depressing. This is a surreal look at a very developed country constantly under existential threat (I can only think of Israel as the other and less so). Esp personal as a lot of my family lives near or in Seoul—TK
Deportation a 'Death Sentence' to Adoptees After a Lifetime in the U.S.
Phillip Clay was adopted at 8 into an American family in Philadelphia. Twenty-nine years later, in 2012, after numerous arrests and a struggle with drug addiction, he was deported back to his birth country, South Korea.
This article reminded me how I felt when I first went back to Korea at 17 and feeling both at home and foreign. When can someone identify as American in nationality? These adoptees are American in everything but the letter of the law. Heartbreaking—TK
Muslim Leaders Wage Theological Battle, Stoking ISIS' Anger
“This is what hurts ISIS the most. It is Muslims speaking out,” said Mubin Shaikh, a Canadian who once joined an extremist Islamist group and now advises governments on countering radicalization. “Fear-mongering is what ISIS is…
Could India become the best-performing stock market of the next ten years?
In recent years, India has emerged as the world's fastest-growing major economy. In our view, Modi's reforms remain under-appreciated, and are a platform for accelerating economic and social growth. Modi's recent state- election victories provide a…
One of the trends I'm keeping a close eye on. Fascinated by the national biometric program they're implementing. Bullish on India—TK
Can Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective's Uncompromising Auteur, Do It All Again?
When I first met Nic Pizzolatto, he was teaching creative writing at DePauw, a small liberal-arts college in Indiana. He was a young professor at work on his first novel, seemingly just another member of the academic multitude, but there was…
The answer was 'no'. I think I liked S2 more than most, everyone agrees it was worse than S1. Even tho it's a bit dated, this is a long, good profile of Nic and a look behind the scenes of what it's like to be a show writer—TK