One of my far-flung friends has brought my attention to the existence of this evidently great novel, which I would like to read. Water Margin or Outlaws of the Marsh (Traditional Chinese: 水滸傳; Simplified Chinese: 水浒传; pinyin: Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn) is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Attributed to Shi Naian, whom … More Water Margin

Venturing beyond the garden wall this evening I saw a live set by a girl band. It was fantastic, and that is all I will say, since further information would permit you to detect my precise location, at least for those two hours. I have a crush now on one of the singers, wicked thing … More How Our Lives Become Stories

I stopped reading Dissent when it came out in favor of the Iraq war, but Momo links to an interesting essay from it by Ellen Willis, on, let us say for short, the Revolution which is still to come. The validity of utopianism is the topic here. I am perusing Walter Benjamin’s On the Concept … More In Utopia

Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison closed The Liberator in 1865, on the theory that its work was done. Colonial powers carved up of Africa in the name of suppressing the slave trade. We can read all about this and more in New World Order, Robin Blackburn’s review of some new books on slavery. It is interesting … More William Lloyd Garrison

When she was 97, my aunt Helen took me to lunch at the upscale Lark Creek Inn. Normally she took members of our family to the Blue Rock, where we would drink gin fizzes, but we went to the Lark Creek Inn because she had been to the Blue Rock the day before. “I am … More Nikolai Bukharin