100 Years of Contrary-ness
A summary of the long life of a dedicated contrarian, William Blau.
September Song
b. traven I’m ninety three now and Kurt Weill’s “September Song” can bring me to tears. Not just because it hearkens back to my lost youth, but also its poignancy of “loss” reverberates to my sadness over the loss of our country to greed and vicious mediocrity. My youth was spent in a war that…
Kurt Vonnegut, the Clintons, and Me
b. traven In June 1996 Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse Five and other novels, wrote the following to a friend: Politics? I will vote Democratic because that is the most humane of the two parties, but not by much. The Clintons are shallow, opportunistic, Yuppies but they are the only game in town. Doesn’t…
“Immigrants – We Get the Job Done!”
Stuart Lyle The hit Broadway show ’Hamilton’ has enjoyed a meteoric rise. Less than a year ago, it opened off-Broadway, but quickly found traction and was on Broadway by midsummer. Now shows are sold out well into later this year. Few would have predicted that a show about founding father Alexander Hamilton would strike such a deep chord with a…
Curious George is Killing Democracy
by Stuart Lyle I like the feeling of a book, as opposed to a gun, in my hand. I’ve been holding a lot of books recently, all while reading to my granddaughter. She has a voracious appetite for the printed word, and an impressive collection of books, both recent and hand-me-downs that I read to…
It’s Hard to Find Virtue and Truth in “the best of all possible worlds”
b. traven In this brave new world filled with a plethora of digital information there is little use for the real meat of knowledge. There has been a slow dismantling of that love of learning, of examining ourselves and our world and seeking truth, the Socratic tradition of always questioning that fosters humility. Fortunately, when…
The Golden Age of the Western
Henry Pelifian The Hollywood Western is truly an American creation that epitomized the hardship to maintain and restore justice. The inequality, greed and corruption were rampant in the Westerns of Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Tim Holt, Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper and Joel McCrea. There are singular Westerns from actors who did not specialize in the Western genre…
Polemical Poetry IX: Soldier’s Soldier
Michael Murry As I believe either Barbara Tuchman or Frances FitzGerald wrote about Vietnam: once a war has gone on for more than a couple of years it can only repeat itself indefinitely. This poem focuses on America’s War on Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos), but it has much to say about America’s current…
War is Peace
W.J. Astore Out shopping today at my local used bookstore and came across an early paperback copy (from 1952) of George Orwell’s 1984. A little overpriced at $15.00, but the cover called to me. What a classic! If you click on the picture, you can just make out, if you look closely, the slogans on…
Mike Murry’s Searing Poetry: Some of Its Meanings
W.J. Astore Readers of The Contrary Perspective are privileged to read the searing “polemical” poetry of Mike Murry. A Vietnam veteran, Murry writes insightfully and powerfully about U.S. culture and history. His poems are challenging in the best way, because they challenge us to think again about America’s legacy and the harm we often inflict,…
The Contrary Perspective 