January 2009 archives

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January 31, 2009 by Cyrus Patell

Is Ahab, Ahab?

One of the questions that arises in the course of Melville’s Moby-Dick is whether Ahab’s name is significant. It’s not just a matter of literary symbolism, in which the author is sending a signal to the knowing reader that the the reader might glean something about the character from the name. That’s standard practice in [...]

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January 22, 2009 by Cyrus Patell

The Company He’s Keeping

Barack Obama has patterned himself after some of our most revered Presidents. During the campaign he invited comparison to another Illinois politician who began his career in the state legislature, Abraham Lincoln, and it’s been widely reported that he’s been influenced by Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s account of Lincoln’s cabinet. Because of his [...]

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January 20, 2009 by Cyrus Patell

Setting Aside Childish Things

INAUGURATION DAY 2009 At the words “And so help me God,” we popped the bottle of Mumms. I’m saving the cork. “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; [...]

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January 5, 2009 by Cyrus Patell

The Knee, One Year Later

Tomorrow  is the one-year anniversary of the rebuilding of my right knee by Dr. Andrew J. Feldman. The surgery involved a high tibial osteotomy, an ACL recision, and a microfracture. When I saw Dr. Feldman three months ago, he was very pleased with the result. The tibia, into which a wedge of cadaver tissue had [...]