Donald's Blog
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This old house was only a few blocks from the state Capitol in Madison,
Wisconsin. All the neighborhood cats lived in the basement during the
winter. The house has long since been torn down, but in 1972 there were
AR2ax speakers in the front room, and a lot of good music was heard there. |
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In the 21st century I am just as opinionated as ever,
and I now have an outlet. I shall pontificate here about anything
that catches my fancy; I hope I will not make too great a fool
of myself. You may comment yea or nay about anything on the
site; I may quote you here, or I may not. Send brickbats etc.
to: dmclarke78@icloud.com.
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June 8, 2012The Times Literary SupplementI sometimes enjoy looking at the New York Review of Books, but there are reasons why I don't subscribe. In the June 1 issue of the TLS, NB reviews a review by Joyce Carol Oates of Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson, Oates says in the NYRB, "is a fierce and eloquent supporter of the literary arts, having lived through Thatcher's England as a university student at Oxford." The TLS asks:
Is that "Thatcher's England" in which tanks rolled onto campuses, soldiers rounded up the intelligentsia, and bonfires were made out of books? Or Thatcher's England where a working-class girl from Accrington could go to Oxford and receive not just a free education but a generous maintenance grant as well? Thatcher's England was followed by John Major's England, in which university access was unprecedentedly expanded. This was followed by Bair's England--at last, the people's party in power!--where free education for the likes of Ms Winterson (and the likes of us) was abolished. It helps to be fierce and eloquent about something, however...
I love this stuff. I love the TLS.