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January 2007

Old Friends, Old Memories

Sunday, January 28, 2007

”…’Ah, now I understand,’ he said. ‘You are ashamed, is it? Yes, that’s it, Judge Sahib…You feel humiliated. But there is no need for that. These mistakes happen to all of us when we are new to the country.’”
--Rishi Reddi, “Justice Shiva Ram Murthy”
”Every story is true, and a lie.”
--Leigh Allison Wilson, “Bullhead”

Self-knowledge and self esteem are hard won in a new land, and the precarious and enduring nature of memory.


Operation Homecoming

Sunday, January 21, 2007

”…I walked across a pitch dark highway. Somebody was wailing in Arabic, hypnotically, repetitiously. A single car headlight was burning, a single shaft of light, beaming across the road, like an accusing finger.
--Sgt. Jack Lewis, “Road Work” .

American soldiers fighting in the Middle East recount their experiences in fiction, poems, memoirs, and letters.


The "Eyes" Have It

Sunday, January 14, 2007

”He had been then, and always, essentially a spectator, a humorous, detached observer of the immense, muddled variety show of life, slipping out of his seat now and then for a brief dip into the convivialities at the back of the house, but never as far as one knew showing the least desire to jump on the stage, and do a turn.
--Edith Wharton, “The Eyes”

A classic haunting, in polite society.


Food and fairy tales.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

”I am too young to love a dog, at the same I am beginning to realize there isn’t that much love in this world, so when Pauline says, ‘Can it do tricks?’ I try to keep the rush of passion from my eyes; I try to keep my voice down. ‘He can dance,’ I admit.”
--Molly Giles, “Pie Dance”

Three celebrations of food, and a fairy tale.