On Aging Alone | The Walrus thewalrus.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thewalrus.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Maggie OâFarrell on âHamnetâ
OâFarrell discusses her novel about Shakespeare and his family, and Judith Shulevitz talks about Rachel Cuskâs âSecond Place.âHosted by Pamela Paul
transcript
-0:00
Maggie OâFarrellâs âHamnet,â one of last yearâs most widely acclaimed novels, imagines the life of William Shakespeare, his wife, Anne (or Agnes) Hathaway, and the coupleâs son Hamnet, who died at 11 years old in 1596. On this weekâs podcast, OâFarrell says she always planned for the novel to have the ensemble cast it does, but that her deepest motivation was the desire to capture a sense of the young boy at its center.
The Reality Distortion Field
Even as the steady advance of civil rights during the past 50 years has quantitatively decreased the supply of racism and bigotry in this country, the mainstream media have feverishly attempted to increase demand for their wares by focusing relentlessly on them, even to the point of creating and amplifying false narratives in pursuit of that aim. Their success comes from wildly exaggerating the scope and public support for ideological crusades and dishonestly reporting on those who hold dissenting views.
The tendency has been particularly noticeable in coverage of two issues that prompt deep and abiding disagreements and considerable debate, except when it comes to the way they are discussed in establishment media. Those issues are transgender rights and race.
The Good Men Project
Become a Premium Member
We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century.
Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.
The Devil’s in The Irony
Leaving the bookstore my boys and I were happy. The guys had each picked a LEGO mini-figure and with their anticipation to open it, we walked into the cool air, sun shining, masks on.
No sooner were we halfway to the car, when a tall unmasked man approached us walking the other way. He was weighted down by a big pack, and incidentally, he was also carrying his righteous pugnacity.
A Cure for the New Yearâs Scaries
What is time, anyway?
Jan. 6, 2021
Iâve always found the turn of the calendar year difficult â coming down off the adrenaline and joy of the holidays and crashing into several solid months of work, school, dark and cold. I try to temper that letdown by planning things to look forward to for my family, and for me: a trip to visit my in-laws in California over the kidsâ school break, dinner with old friends or a comedy show with my husband.
I canât make any of these arrangements for 2021, and I canât do the typical summer planning that starts around this time. Who knows if there will be camp this year? Every time I try to project a future in my mind, it feels like my brain is traveling down a smooth road and then slamming into a brick wall.