Ken Ilgunas

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) I’d already read P&P, and I was already thinking that I was done with old English lit., so I opened it up without the intention of reading it (figured I’d just thoughtlessly browse the first few lines), but by the end of the first page, I couldn’t stop myself. The mother and father feel so “lived in” and real and precise. Lady Catherine and Collins the clergyman, in their stuffy absurdity, are seriously funny. I must confess that I fe

There will be spoilers. 1. It was a complete waste a time with hardly a redeeming quality. 2. There was no chemistry between any of the characters. 3. Unlike Episode Seven, there was no functional or adult-level humor. (Cute penguins screaming next to Chewy doesn’t count.) 4. The storyline was clunky and confusing, centered on a series of random chases. Characters would get in binds and immediately get out of them. In one case, two heroes were imprisoned, they complained and

[I wrote this essay a few years ago when I was living in North Carolina. It was for my photo blog, notrespassingsigns.blogspot.com. I recently reread it and thought it was worth reprinting, especially after I read George Monbiot’s Out of the Wreckage, which helped me piece together a few disconnected thoughts. So here it is, refurbished, updated, and Trumpified.] A few people in my neck of the woods have raised Confederate flags on flagpoles in their yard. Rarely are these fl

A little more than a week ago, Trump retweeted anti-Muslim videos, called a political opponent “Pocahontas” at a ceremony honoring Native Americans, and reveled in Matt Lauer’s sexual misconduct allegations (even though Trump has his own allegations to deal with). For any other president, a series of gaffes and embarrassments like this would have been catastrophic. But for Trump it was just another week. These stories make me angry. They make me hate the voters who put such a