When my father was in his late 80s, he tried to commit suicide. My mother, who had been away for the day, found him and called me, and I called an ambulance, and he was “saved.” When he woke up in the hospital after having his stomach pumped, he was quite angry about being “saved.” Talk about no one listening to what he wanted.

My medical education has followed almost exactly the same path. I keep learning about what can go wrong when it does go wrong, one damn thing after another. I keep earning credits towards a wholly unasked-for medical degree. I have learned about so many things that can screw up, so many procedures and treatments, so many pills and injections. I accept my destiny as a human pincushion for shots, blood draws, and anything else they come up with. I am not an eager student, and t

It is argued that neither we – nor in reality even the creator – can truly “know” the intentions behind the text. Yet it is surely no more futile to cast for intention than to fish for meaning in a random sea of unsignifying signifiers.

Our hotel had bullet holes everywhere, even in the round brass railings on the stairways in the lobby. When I got to my room, I put down my suitcase and went to lock the door and set the chain. Not much point. The door had obviously been kicked open at some point and the chain was gone. The lock still worked, sort of. The American journalist from our group told us how he would go up to his room, pull down the blinds, and place the mattress away from any snipersight l,in es.

You are hard to love: you wield petals and thorns indifferently (despite my concern and my hospitality). It is not that I am fickle, but this is a wintry land, and I would not willingly change it.

Perhaps the most famous single line from Holocaust literature is Anne Frank's conclusion: “In my heart, I believe that people are good.” Do you feel that Kosinski would agree? Write out an imaginary discussion between Kosinski and Frank on the issue of the fundamental nature of man.

“If it can be done, it will be done. Ethics are no more than a fart in a windstorm.” ("Prolegomenon to our cryogenic future")

One of the lessons that I take from the Holocaust is that the establishment of the state of Israel is essential for Jews (even for me). It is not negotiable on any level. Some people have suggested that instead of coming to Israel, Jews should’ve established a state someplace in Germany (don’t mind the ashes, folks) or perhaps elsewhere in Europe (where they came from – and were driven out of). Given what had happened, only a total idiot would even begin to suggest that...

Cultural trends and corporate greed will doubtless continue to do battle over our nether regions until global warming and societal collapse render the question moot.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin is offered to us as a book full of insight, a new, fresh, and informed exploration of that stickiest of all human adventures—sex. Within the action of the book, however, we see proclaimed not the joy of sex, but the heroism of abstinence. Estraven, Genly Ai's closest native friend, normally a lusty sort of character (we gather), abandons his sexuality and suffers the tortures of the celibate in the name of the quest.

Princeton, NJ No release date set: Confidential – for internal use only A spokesperson for President Christopher Eisgruber of Princeton University announced yesterday that a decision has been reached to go forward with a new deal with a major corporate sponsor that will “deliver extremely important benefits to the university community.” The spokesperson explained, “This plan has been the topic of extended and often quite intense debate among administrators and faculty, as we

The play Hamlet grows out of the tradition of the revenge tragedy, a great favorite of the Elizabethan audience. In the conventional...

"Satan sends us temptations. God sends us opportunities." Dear pastor O, Last week while I was hiking out in the woods for fun, I found a...

The current court cases over affirmative action – this time raised about discrimination against Asians at the most selective colleges –...

Recently there has been renewed discussion of Vladimir Nabokov's once scandalous Lolita , thanks to an article in the New York Times by...

My opening question was inspired by a well-intentioned idea on the part of the committee that organized my 50th high school reunion this...

Age is the money shot in an obit. Followed by cause of death as a close second. My father, Carl G. Hempel, was a professor of...

One of the things that gets a lot of coverage in the news these days is the search for exo-planets circling around other stars in our galaxy and in the universe at large. Recent advances in technology have allowed astronomers to perform ever more sophisticated surveys and analyses on behalf of that search. And indeed, recent results suggest that a sizable number of stars appear to have planets rotating around them. Beyond that, our search is preoccupied with how many of those

“Life is. It goes. And it does not count. That was the hurtling truth that comes to rattle everyone as they grow up, grow old.” Jim Crace, Being Dead (quoted in a book review in Men’s Journal , March 2000, p. 56) "The meaning of life is that it ends." Franz Kafka “It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified.” Friedrich Nietzsche “There’s no way to explain human beings. We shouldn’t be on this planet.” Ancient Aliens (the Histor

February 2, 2013 (Warning: spoilers ahead.) I haven’t really kept up with my movie-going lately, but Django stood out for me quite...