Saturday Good Reads

An American definition has changed. When one says “Orlando,” one doesn’t automatically think of Disney World any more. And in this age of instantaneous communications and the race to see who can tweet first, it didn’t take long for politicians of the left and right, newspaper editorial writers, and activists of all stripes to attempt to make political hay. Fifty people dead and 59 injured, and the first impulse is not to let a tragedy go to political waste.

Sandra Heska King finds poetry in cleaning windows. Maggie Millner at the Literary Hub wonders why so many poets are also artists. And Dean Rader at the American Academy of Poets has an article on the enduring influence of Wallace Stevens. The Smithsonian took a look at what the Oregon Trail looks like today. Surprisingly, parts of it haven’t changed at all.

If you need an indication of how bizarre American education is becoming, consider the College Board’s recent revision of the AP European History Examination. Would you believe that Christopher Columbus and Winston Churchill have disappeared? That the role of Britain in European history is significantly downplayed? That the barbarous effects of communism and the Soviet Union are minimized? David Randall of the National Association of Scholars has a 12,000-word critique.

And a wonderful look at Calvin & Hobbes, the cartoon that changed the comics.

Art and Photography

3505 Longfellow, Compton Heights – Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina.

Late Spring Garden – Tim Good at Pics, Poems, and Ponderings.

Art Stories: Michelangelo’s David – We Work with What We’re Given – Russ at The Rabbit Room.

What the Oregon Trail Looks Like Today – Smithsonian Magazine.

Poetry

Why Are So Many Poets Also Artists? – Maggie Millner at Literary Hub.

Poetry of Moving: On Cleaning Windows - Sandra Heska King.

Invisible Priest: Contemporary American Poetry and the Echo of Stevens – Dean Rader at the Academy of American Poets.

Life and Culture

Exploiting Orlando – Rod Dreher at American Conservative Magazine.

The fear of being offended – David Rupert at Red-Letter Believers.

Left or Right, No One is Happy – R.R. Reno at First Things.

The Disappearing Continent: A Critique of the Revised AP European History Examination – David Randall at the National Association of Scholars.

Writing

How Are You Relating to Your Reader? – Mick Silva.

Faith

“The Faith of Christopher Hitchens” – Tim Challies at Informing the Reforming.

Calvin & Hobbes: Art Before Commerce – Kaptain Kristian

Painting: The Novel Reader, oil on canvas by Vincent Van Gogh (1888).