Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Month: May 2020 (Page 2 of 2)

In The Dream House

I get a feeling of uncanny accuracy when I read In the Dream House. Not because I’ve ever been in an abusive relationship. I haven’t, and I hope things stay that way forever. It’s because the road – both geographical and description of place – looks so familiar and yet so far away.

Carmen Maria Machado wrote the book, and she wrote it about her relationship with an abuser who’s part of writing communities in Iowa City. Their relationship spans the U.S., but it mostly spans the distance between Iowa City, Iowa and Bloomington, Indiana.

I live in Iowa City, and I used to live in Bloomington. 6 years of the former followed by 12 years – and counting! – of the latter. Setting aside a year in Minneapolis, I’ve lived half my life in these two places.

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Syria Policy 101

A possible war with Syria rarely dominates the headlines, but it just as rarely strays too far from them. The situation has persisted since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. How did this happen, and where will it lead?

I’ll briefly review the history before diving into the policy details. The U.S.’s Syria policy fits well into the bipartisan foreign policy consensus, but it also reveals fault lines between Donald Trump and the Democrats, among other areas.

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