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Finding Something to Worship
The New York Times obituaries from Sunday, March 11, 2012 include an article about William Hamilton, the man at the center of the “Death of God” controversy in April of 1966. The controversy was sparked when Time published a cover article about his ideas, with the famous cover: on a simple black background, the question, “Is God Dead?” The Times had already run a headline in January....
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While My Pen Gently Weeps
We writers are—I suspect it’s true for artists in general, even the very successful ones—an insecure bunch. We need recognition. Not from our sisters and best friends, who will always say something like, “This is amazing. You should publish it.” We want recognition from those in the business whose approval we think will serve as a kind of validation. Camus’ narrator calls Grand the “insignificant....
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The Skepticism of a Child
I’m probably projecting backwards, but I feel like I’ve known this moment was coming since the evening Evan stared up at me from the warming table in the delivery room. He was really only straining to see something through the blurry new light, but his face was a squinting thoughtful frown, as if he were already trying to ask, “What the hell are you trying to put over on me here?” Mistrust pretty well....
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Two Faiths, One God?
In 1990 and 1991 I was a combat engineer with the 5th Marines, and we were part of the invasion of Iraq during Desert Storm. I saw the nifty new technology, the almost playful ways we had devised to murder one another, and a deep sadness sank into my heart. It felt a lot like guilt; I didn’t kill anyone myself, but I sure was there. Maybe there’s something of survivor’s guilt....
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Telling Secrets
In the February issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, Alice Mattison states flatly: “Telling the truth is wrong, if somebody wants to keep it secret.” Not long ago I read a note posted by a friend of mine that made my heart sink. Allison wrote that an excerpt from her memoir, posted here, had infuriated her family. My first thought: Allison is reaping the bitter and inevitable fruit of memoir writing. My second thought....
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Current Issue
Issue 72
Memoir by Lauren Winner, Poetry by James Harpur, Art by Guy Chase and Adrian Wiszniewski
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