Jeff Renye highlights the
very complex case of Lance Armstrong, which represents at one and the same time
(to my mind) a genuine triumph over adversity and a fraudulent version of same.
Fellow AmericanStudier Matt Goguen is considering
writing an analytical piece for the site on Armstrong, so stay tuned for that.
But I’ll ask you all as well—what do you think about Armstrong and these
questions?
Since that was it for the crowd-sourced responses this week, I wanted to
frame one more question to which I’d love to hear your responses, readers and
fellow AmericanStudiers: which books, figures, stories, histories, do you turn
to when you’re experiencing your own adversity? Who or what inspires you? Why?
Next series next week,
Ben
PS. So what do you think?
10/27 Memory Day nominees: A tie between two unique, significant, and hugely talented 20th
century American authors, Sylvia Plath and Maxine Hong Kingston.
In the spirit of crowd-sourcing, check out this new blog post from Rick Waters:
ReplyDeletehttp://writeorwronghereistand.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-toy-box-filled-with-manifest-destiny.html
Irene Martyniuk writes:
ReplyDelete"I turn to two works in times of need. One is Michael Ondaatje's "The Time Around Scars," a short heart-breaking poem. Ondaatje perfectly captures the oddity of always seeing the physical mark on the body of failed love.
The real framework of my existence, though, is Eliot's "Prufrock.". Sometimes I simply read it aloud because the beauty of the words and the rhythm give me happiness. As a poem, it is brilliant. Everytime I read it, I find something new and powerful. I like hearing others reading it as well. One of my favorites to teach. And Eliot. So talented, troubled, troubling, and complicated. To have only written this poem would be a lifetime. But he also wrote so much more, and edited, and mentored so many others (for better or worse). Anyway, the poem haunts me in all the right ways."