Tag Archives: Santi Tafarella

The Reelection Of Barack Obama (A Poem)

Sunrise, seven November, the seventh day. Rest. Gumby, pushing sixty, Enters his yoga studio by the glass door, gliding slowly. Pokey, waiting in Corpse Pose, says, I voted Romney. Big Gum: I did too. At the back window A bat leaves its cave, circles tightly, … Continue reading

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The Greece and Italy Crash and Burn

Greece appears to be going down, and now the Italians are panicking. This is in London’s Telegraph today (written by its international business editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard): Italy’s former premier Romano Prodi said the EU risks instant contagion to Spain, Italy, … Continue reading

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Reading the Poem, “Advice for Dying Fathers,” at Butler’s Coffee

On Friday night, one of my poet friends (Niccelle Davis) took a picture of me reading a poem to an audience at Butler’s Coffee in Palmdale, California, and posted it at her blog. I didn’t look too fat, so I asked her … Continue reading

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Critical Thinking Watch: Is Jonathon Keats’ “Copernican Art Manifesto” Serious?

—– Jonathon Keats, “conceptual artist,” has written an art manifesto worthy of an Onion News parody, and yet I think he’s actually serious. His manifesto is getting some straight press (such as from Wired magazine) and he’s accompanied the manifesto with the kinds of … Continue reading

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Blogging David Goodsell’s “The Machinery of Life” (The Preface)

David Goodsell is a molecular biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in California, and he has written a hippie-beautiful introductory text to molecular biology, The Machinery of Life (2nd edition, Springer 2010), which Scientific American calls “an impressive and original book.”  … Continue reading

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The Problem of Pure Consciousness

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . Sunlight rivers through the shimmering  Sycamore tree, pools on the ground, Makes of shadow a living shoreline.  I vibrate there. The juggler’s balls are Frightfully high in the rarified air. Eight Sheriff’s deputies in four cars came, but They did … Continue reading

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Advice for Dying Fathers (Contra Dylan Thomas)

_____ Leaves cling, do not go gently, but go just The same. The signal is yellow; the alive Are always downcast before being cast down. Look! The green team winning all summer Is starting to lose badly, going bald in The stunning … Continue reading

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Japan’s earthquake and tsunami: there was a terrible noise. There was a terrible silence. There was a terrible noise. There was a terrible silence. There was a terrible noise.

The most heart-breaking and arresting sentence (or, rather, portion of a larger sentence) I’ve encountered on the Japan earthquake and tsunami was penned at Salon this morning by Matt Zoller Seitz: [W]omen and children walking and in some cases swimming through … Continue reading

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What I Believe, and What Islam Teaches

On Wednesday, I’m scheduled to interview an American imam. But I’m a member of the doubting community, not any faith community, which means that I trace my intellectual lineage to people like these: Rene Descartes. Descartes made the first principle of his life, … Continue reading

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George Packer: Have Reason and Dialogue Completely Lost Their Holds on Our Times?

George Packer, a staff writer at the New Yorker, in a blog post that nails our historical moment with perfect pitch, is something that should be read in its entirety. It can be found here. Below are two quotes from it. The … Continue reading

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The First YouTube for International Have a Meal with a Muslim Day (September 17, 2010)

Yesterday, Joseph, a Muslim, and I, an agnostic, sat down outside a restaurant on Lancaster Blvd. in Lancaster, California and laid out our game plan for International Have a Meal with a Muslim Day. We’ll be having coffee, and perhaps a bite … Continue reading

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September 17th, 2010: International Have a Meal with a Muslim Day

In response to the Florida pastor who recently called people to an “International Burn a Koran Day,” I thought I’d set my own International event, a siren call, not to hate, but to love and dialogue: September 17, 2010: International Have … Continue reading

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The Gospel of Jessica Christ: Prologue (Mark 1:1; John 1:1-5)

Playing off the language of the NT (in the KJV), I’ve taken certain passages from the four gospels and put them into gender reversal (just to see what happens). I’ve also inserted a word firecracker here and there to add some … Continue reading

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The inane “reasoning” that supports the recent claim that Noah’s ark has been found

Don’t believe the hype? Yesterday, some media outlets reported that Noah’s ark may have been found somewhere in the Ararat mountains, and they quoted one of the lead discoverers as being “99 percent” certain that what was discovered is the legendary vessel. … Continue reading

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The view from my window

Inspired by Andrew Sullivan’s “The View from Your Window” feature at his blog (in which he posts what his readers see from their windows), I thought I might periodically start putting, on my blog, posts titled: The view from my  … Continue reading

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Poet Charles Hood’s theory of Van Gogh’s Irises painting at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles: perhaps Van Gogh made his painting after “reading Shakespeare too intensely”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                . Poet Charles Hood has of late been immersing himself in the letters of Vincent Van Gogh, and he made a connection that I found quite intriguing between Van Gogh’s Irises  painting at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles … Continue reading

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“A Parable for Thomas”: a poem by Santi Tafarella

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . Beauty is noticing the lonely Boulder on yonder hill casting                                                                                                                                                                                                                               . In your way a long black Tongue declaring that, yes,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                . The sun is rising, and you Need not ascend yourself                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . The hill, nor touch … Continue reading

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“Epistemic closure”: Julian Sanchez on American Conservative Insularity

At his blog today, Julian Sanchez uses the phrase “epistemic closure” to describe contemporary American “conservatism” (which I would call, in fact, a neo-authoritarian cultural movement): One of the more striking features of the contemporary conservative movement is the extent to … Continue reading

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Santi Tafarella’s Poem, “The Appearance of the Real”

. . . . . . .                                                                                                                                                                 . Beneath a dormant tree in brown eggshell crisp leaves a child found a white branch with a red blossom.                                                                                                                                                        . The branch bent at its middle and the child, to hold … Continue reading

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I Am an Empatheist

Atheist biologist Jerry Coyne asked his blog readers today to coin one word that could be used for atheists who are accomodating—rather than combative—in their attitudes toward religion. Here was my response: Since you’re obviously talking about people like me, maybe … Continue reading

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