But we demand the Flame: the Book of J (the Solute Book Club)
Header image by Dikla Laor, used by permission.¹ Title from Emily Dickinson, used because I could.…
The Railway’s There Yet: THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (Year of the Month)
“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who…
New Modes for Old Truths: Unforgiven: the Music of Diamanda Galás and Galina Ustvolskaya
Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very presumption, that God…
The Loser: SECRET HONOR (1984)
. . .the [Richard Nixon] story not as he might want it to be told–no…
New Modes for Old Truths: James Ellroy’s America
Mr. Campbell, who cares? Even if this were true, who cares? This country was built…
New Modes for Old Truths: HAMILTON and Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton is my motherfucker. In 25 years of studying and teaching the story of…
New Modes for Old Truths: Les Blank and the Living Past
Les Blank’s documentaries cover a range of subjects but keep coming back to some fundamental…
New Modes for Old Truths: the Beloved Community of PARIS IS BURNING (1990)
If everybody went to balls and did less drugs, it would be a fun world.…
New Modes for Old Truths: the Revolutionaries of NIGHT MOVES (2013) and CHE (2008)
If you pursue this road that you’ve embarked upon, you will eventually come to moral…
New Modes for Old Truths: Christopher Nolan’s Liars
Then if any one at all is to have the privilege of lying, the rulers of…