Let's Get Drunk and Read Poetry

The collapse of the American political process in Election Year 2000 is both an event in itself and a world-class metaphor: The American Century is over.

The current election crisis proves the strength and integrity of our political institutions.

One week before the election, Michael Ventura examines the candidates’ campaigns and finds that Nader played to our fear of consequences, Gore to our fear of intelligence, and Bush to our fear of complexity.

Michael Ventura reflects on the gateway of Time.

Being president of America is not good for one's health.

Michael ventura mediatates on the permeability of reality.

Austin's Best Novelist

Al Gore is the only presidential candidate who's hot and bothered about global warming.

Preparing for War With Europe

Hot news about global warming.

Follow the yellow brick road to Wounded Knee in this account of L. Frank Baum's effort to tame the untamable.

Robert Bly's translations of 20th-century poets enrich our language.

The paperback reissue of Steve Erickson's The Sea Came In at Midnight prompts a reflection on his writing.

Advice to a high-school graduating class: Face your fear and take risks.

The music of Tony Fruscella reminds us that art is about an unending attempt to give what we can, where we can, to whom we can.

ABC's short-lived TV show Wonderland failed to depict mental illness and its treatment in a realistic light.

Why a sizable number of heterosexuals feel threatened by the concept of gay marriage

Evaluating the Ten Commandments as a teaching tool in the American classroom

October 1, 1955, a half-hour show called The Honeymooners slipped in some uneasy truths under cover of laughter.

In memory of a Shaman

How broadband technologies will affect modern life.

Death is not a separation, but a living presence.

It's time for the American South to reject its "rebel" hypocrisy of states rights and atone for the sins of the slave economy of the Confederacy.

High school students comment on the meaning of the new millennium.

The paradox of possiblities exhibited by the 20th century -- from Auschwitz to Ginger & Fred.