http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com Lively literary and cultural dialogue Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:23:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The predicament of a woman who has Tommy tattooed across her tailbone and ends up marrying Jack is not unlike the predicament of a nation run by ideology instead of common sense. According to current vogue in politics, this woman should not flip-flop from Tommy to Jack, even though Tommy ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/07/04/poor-jack-he-gets-it/ If we are the world, as we say we are, how is it possible to have a foreign face in America? Not all immigrants come by this question the hard way. If you come from Northern Europe or Slavic Europe, you may grasp the question in your head but not your ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/07/01/my-face-is-unauthorized-is-yours/ New York’s Hudson Valley and the nearby Berkshires and Taconics are alive with art galleries. When people buy second homes in these scenic treasuries they look to local galleries to provide them mementos of their new environment. They’re missing a huge bet. If I were a fledgling or even a seasoned collector of ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/29/art-buyers-don%e2%80%99t-miss-this-bet/ We live in a society that has reached an incredible consensus, in spite of all the red state-blue state talk: we agree that it's something akin to a terror alert to talk straight. http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/28/a-big-silence-in-the-funny-money-society/ Parallels too closely drawn invite intellectual train wrecks, but it might not be too far a reach to connect yesterday's Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's strict handgun control law to our gunpoint involvement with Arab society. Every Arab civilization since the advent of Islam in the 7th Christian ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/26/the-arabs-and-the-second-amendment/ In a certain plot contrivance in television serials and films the conscientious subaltern makes a fool of his pretentious jerk of a supervisor. The gimmick is overused to a fare-thee-well in such productions as the three CSI shows. What intrigues me about it is that, as so often in television ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/24/so-much-tv-is-about-one-upping-the-jerk/ The CNN crawl this morning declared the Flip-Flop Wars. Barack Obama had changed course about campaign finance, deciding not to limit himself to a federal contribution, and John McCain had decided offshore drilling is okay after all. The more important issue is the press’ mindless acceptance of the received boobism ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/22/the-flip-flop-wars-cmon/ The gray region between sexism and misogyny is a gloaming filled with turned around street signs and delusions. I ought to know because I’ve been wallowing in it. I wrote in this space that Senator Hillary Clinton was marching like the Energizer Bunny off a cliff. I faulted her for ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/21/i-apologize-senator/ John McCain, who knows a thing or two about the Navy, thinks military recruits should be instructed in our foreign policy. But foreign policies fluctuate with our political EKG, while our national ideals, however soiled they may be by scare tactics, hold fast. My most memorable experience in Navy boot ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/19/senator-the-navy-had-it-right/ Sometimes I think the all news all day formula is traumatizing society. The news—if you can call that weird concoction of anchor bonhomie and drivel news—is surpassingly negative, and in the interest of ratings the media rarely lose an opportunity to exaggerate the negative side of the news. News ... http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/2008/06/17/are-we-a-traumatized-society/