Articles by Paul Thompson

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Articles by Paul Thompson

The Fourth of July: US History and the Dream of America

With the Fourth of July on its way, Americans are beginning to stockpile their reserves of hot dogs, hamburgers, cole-slaw, sodas, and other heart-healthy snacks. This is the time when the whole family – often including weird relatives you never even knew you had – gathers around the barbecue or the picnic bench, or the tree your cat got stuck in when the neighbor set off a bottle rocket. This is the time to watch your kid sister in the downtown parade, or to go play baseball with you pals, or t... More

A Good Man is Hard to Find - Especially during Hard Times

Whether we like to admit it or not, there’s something in the human heart that’s drawn to darkness and chaos. You know that superhuman hearing you suddenly get when car tires screech in the distance? Or the strange glee you feel when the Joker blows up a hospital in his finest nurse’s uniform? This mischievous tendency, which Edgar Allen Poe famously referred to the “imp of the perverse,” sits just below the surface of most people’s everyday lives. Perhaps our love of violent entertainment – be i... More

Shakespeare, Poetry, and the Power of Art

Poetry can have an incredibly polarizing effect: people tend to either swear by at or swear at it. What gives? Well, aside from the fact that good poetry can be dauntingly elitist while bad poetry is, as a rule, truly god-awful, art in general is a very powerful medium – and poetry is one particularly artsy and inaccessible form of art. In fact, poetry is so powerful that it can be wielded against other people. Not just in the sense of intimidating your classmates with a spiffy beret, or holding... More