Hey all! I’m speaking about a relationship model that is most common associated with heterosexual couples. BUT BUT BUT here’s the real truth… It’s a relationship model for any kind of relationship when there is an imbalance of power. And Hollywood can claim that it wants strong women all it wants EXCEPT it released that […]
An Old Relationship Model is awful with Spoilers
Born in Detroit, Philip Levine taught American poetry to listen to labor. His plainspoken English carried factories, fatigue, and moral clarity into verse, proving working-class speech could bear philosophy, anger, and dignity. Poetry learned to speak without ornament, for lives previously unheard, and the language never narrowed again afterward ever.
Philip Levine (1928–2015) – The Poet Who Gave Working-Class English Its Permanent Voice
Born January 3, 1892, J. R. R. Tolkien reshaped English by restoring its ancient memory and mythic power. Through philology, epic fantasy, and invented languages, he proved English could sustain deep history, moral gravity, and timeless imagination, speaking with the authority of myth rather than modern novelty and collective memory.
Birth of J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) – The Writer Who Reforged the English Language into Myth
Born January 2, 1920, Isaac Asimov transformed English into a language of clarity. Through science fiction, popular science, and essays, he proved that complex ideas need not intimidate. His prose taught English to explain the future with precision, logic, and confidence—making knowledge accessible without sacrificing depth.
Birth of Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) – The Writer Who Taught English How to Explain the Future
Anthony Hopkins proves that spoken English is a disciplined music. By honoring syntax, meter, and pause, he makes complex writing audible, precise, and alive. His performances teach that clarity comes from structure, emotion from grammar, and authority from restraint—English realized, not approximated, through decades of stage and screen mastery alone.
Birth of Anthony Hopkins (1937– ) – The Actor Who Taught English How to Be Spoken with Absolute Precision
For the second leg of my attempt to read Saul Bellow’s novels – or, as I’ve read several already, should I say to enjoy Saul Bellow’s novels – in fact, as I’m not that ambitious, make that to get Saul Bellow’s novels – I thought I would go for one that’s even thinner than Dangling […]
Saul Bellow: Seize the Day
The New Year has always been a merry holiday in my family, even in the worst of times. A decade ago, when I was still editing the Los Angeles Review of Books (which celebrates its fifteenth anniversary this year!), I invited my Belarusian friend Sasha Razor and the brilliant scholar of Soviet media David MacFadyen […]
“Board the Troika of the Past”: Alexander Voloshin Rings in the New Year
When Romain Rolland died in 1944, English lost a moral voice it had never owned, yet deeply absorbed. Through translation, his pacifism and ethical clarity shaped how English writers spoke of conscience, war, and responsibility—teaching the language restraint, seriousness, and the courage of principled dissent.
Death of Romain Rolland (1866–1944) – The Moral Conscience Heard Through English
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