CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US"><head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11"><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/","20130116072158","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1358320918"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>Opinion - Opinionator - NYTimes.com</title><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/><meta name="keywords" content="politics, law, maps, the West Coast, academia, food policy"/><meta name="description" content=" Opinionator offers exclusive commentary on politics, law, science, banking, the West Coast and more."/><meta name="PT" content="Blogs"/><meta name="PST" content="Blog Main"/><meta name="CG" content="Opinion"/><meta name="SCG" content="opinionator"/><meta name="BN" content="opinionator"/><link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20130116072158im_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"/><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://typeface.nytimes.com/hqf5ydk.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">try{Typekit.load();}catch(e){}</script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/common.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/app/lib/NYTD/0.0.1/tabset.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/blogs_v3/nyt_universal/js/common.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/blogs_v3/nyt_universal/js/memberTools.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/common/screen/modifyNavigationDisplay.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/blogs_v3/nyt_universal/tabsetoverlayrevealer.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if((document.referrer).indexOf("nytimes.com") != -1) { var nyt_doc_referrer = 'nytimes.com'; } else { var nyt_doc_referrer = ''; } document.write('<script id="adxScript" src="'+ 'https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com' +'/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=fastscript&page=' + 'blog.nytimes.com' + '/' + 'opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&query=qstring&keywords='+ encodeURIComponent(nyt_doc_referrer) +';;politics;law;maps;the+West+Coast;academia;food+policy;' + '"' + '>' + '</' + 'script>'); NYTShareAdScript = 'https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?' + 'type=fastscript&page=' + 'blog.nytimes.com' + '/' + 'opinionator/frontpage' + '&posall=Frame6A&query=qstring&keywords=?'; ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/common/sharetools/2.0/shareTools.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/app/save/crossPlatformSave.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">// NYTD.Blogs.user = new NYTD.Blogs.User('',''); //</script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/blogs_v3/nyt_universal/js/blogscrnr.js"></script><link rel="index" title="Opinionator" href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158cs_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/css/blogs/3.1/screen/themes/universal/style.css?v=07-11-2012" media="screen"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158cs_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/css/blogs/3.1/screen/themes/opinionator/style.css" media="screen"/>  <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/feed/"/><link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator"/> </head><body class="blogHome"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Header1 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header1] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Header1]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Header1 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header1] == "undefined")) { if($("Header1")) { $("Header1").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Header1"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Header1&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Header2 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header2] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Header2]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Header2 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header2] == "undefined")) { if($("Header2")) { $("Header2").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Header2"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Header2&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Header3 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header3] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Header3]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Header3 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Header3] == "undefined")) { if($("Header3")) { $("Header3").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Header3"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Header3&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Top5 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Top5] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Top5]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Top5 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Top5] == "undefined")) { if($("Top5")) { $("Top5").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Top5"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Top5&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><a name="top"></a><div id="shell"><ul id="memberTools"><script type="text/javascript">NYTD.Blogs.user.fillInMemberTools();</script></ul><div class="tabsContainer"><ul id="mainTabs" class="tabs"><li class="first mainTabHome"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/">Home Page</a></li><li class="mainTabTodaysPaper"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html">Today's Paper</a></li><li class="mainTabVideo"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/video">Video</a></li><li class="mainTabMostPopular"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/mostpopular">Most Popular</a></li></ul></div><div id="editionToggle" class="editionToggle"> Edition: <span id="editionToggleUS"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/" onmousedown="dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcssip','www.nytimes.com','DCS.dcsuri','/toggleIHTtoNYT.html','WT.ti','toggleIHTtoNYT','WT.z_dcsm','1');" onclick="NYTD.EditionPref.setUS();">U.S.</a></span> / <span id="editionToggleGlobal"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://global.nytimes.com/" onmousedown="dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcssip','www.nytimes.com','DCS.dcsuri','/toggleNYTtoIHT.html','WT.ti','toggleNYTtoIHT','WT.z_dcsm','1');" onclick="NYTD.EditionPref.setGlobal();">Global</a></span></div><script type="text/javascript">NYTD.loadEditionToggle();</script><div id="page" class="tabContent active"><div id="masthead"><div id="Middle1" class="singleAd"><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Middle1C != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Middle1C] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Middle1C]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Middle1C == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Middle1C] == "undefined")) { if($("Middle1C")) { $("Middle1C").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Middle1C"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Middle1C&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div><form id="searchForm" name="searchForm" method="GET" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/sitesearch_selector.html" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded"><input type="hidden" name="date_select" value="full"><div id="nytSearchWidget"><label for="searchQuery">Search All NYTimes.com</label><input id="searchQuery" type="text" name="query"><input id="searchSubmit" title="Search" alt="Search" type="image" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/buttons/go.gif"><input type="hidden" value="nyt" name="type" id="searchAll"></div></form><div id="branding"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/opinion/article/nyt_logo_small.png" alt="The New York Times"></a></div><h2 class="pageHeader hideTxt"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html">The Opinion Pages</a></h2></div><div id="navigation" class=""><ul class="tabs"><li id="navWorld"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html">World</a></li><li id="navUS"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.html">U.S.</a></li><li id="navNYRegion"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/index.html">N.Y. / Region</a></li><li id="navBusiness"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.html">Business</a></li><li id="navTechnology"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html">Technology</a></li><li id="navScience"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html">Science</a></li><li id="navHealth"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/health/index.html">Health</a></li><li id="navSports"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/index.html">Sports</a></li><li class="selected" id="navOpinion"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html">Opinion</a><ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/editorials/index.html">Editorials</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/index.html">Columnists</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/contributors/index.html">Contributors</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/letters/index.html">Letters</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/thepubliceditor/index.html">The Public Editor</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/global/index.html">Global Opinion</a></li></ul></li><li id="navArts"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html">Arts</a></li><li id="navStyle"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/index.html">Style</a></li><li id="navTravel"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://travel.nytimes.com/">Travel</a></li><li id="navJobs"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://jobmarket.nytimes.com/pages/jobs/index.html">Jobs</a></li><li id="navRealestate"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/realestate/index.html">Real Estate</a></li><li id="navAutos"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/automobiles/index.html">Autos</a></li></ul></div><script type="text/javascript">modifyNavigationDisplay();</script><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_XXL != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_XXL] != "undefined")) {$(document.body).addClassName("wideAd");} ///*]]>*/</script><hr/><div id="PushDown" class="leaderboard ad clearfix"><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_PushDown != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_PushDown] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_PushDown]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_PushDown == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_PushDown] == "undefined")) { if($("PushDown")) { $("PushDown").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=PushDown"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=PushDown&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div><div id="opinionator" class="spanAC blog wrap"><div id="aCol"><div id="header"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/" title="Go to Opinionator Home"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/opinionator_main.png" alt="Opinionator - A Gathering of Opinion From Around the Web"/></a></div><hr/><div id="content" class="hfeed"><div class="post-137379 post type-post status-publish hentry category-the-score category-_featured tag-classical-music tag-depression-mental tag-meditation entry " id="entry-137379"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-score/">The Score</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-15T20:45:19+00:00" title="January 15, 2013, 3:45 pm"> January 15, 2013, 3:45 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression">My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/keeril-makan/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by KEERIL MAKAN">KEERIL MAKAN</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="The Score" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/thescore45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary">In <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-score/">The Score</a>, American composers on creating “classical” music in the 21st century.</p></div></div><p>“A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear,” wrote Coleridge in “Dejection: An Ode,” a poem about the paralyzing melancholy he suffered most of his life, which might be diagnosed today as depression. “A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief,/Which finds no natural outlet, no relief,/In word, or sigh, or tear….” The irony of these lines about a poet who is too unhappy to write is, of course, that we find them in a long, sustained poem. A friend shared these lines with me because a similar paradox is at play in many of my compositions, distant as they are from the work of the Romantics.</p><p>That state of lifeless gloom that Coleridge and so many other poets have written of has been part of my life, and my composing, for years. The act of composing is in a dynamic relationship with my emotional life. As a result, my compositions are informed — sometimes quite viscerally — by my depression. Listening to the progression of my work over the past decade provides a sonic map of my journey from darkness to a place of relative openness and light, a transformation made possible through self-care and mindfulness meditation.</p><p>An example from 2003 makes the point: In my string quartet “The Noise Between Thoughts,” the brutal physicality of the piece, its deconstructed instrumental technique and its replacement of consonance and dissonance with noise were directly influenced by my experience with depression.</p><p>(<em>All audio samples are from works composed by the author</em>.)</p><div class="right"><object id="swf139" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/TEMPLATES/MultiTrackInlinePlayer/MultiTrackInlinePlayer.v1.1.swf" width="190" height="120"><param name="movie" value="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/TEMPLATES/MultiTrackInlinePlayer/MultiTrackInlinePlayer.v1.1.swf"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="wmode" value="opaque"/><param name="FlashVars" value="dataURL=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/TEMPLATES/MultiTrackInlinePlayer/data/2012010104_Noise.xml&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&="/><embed id="swf139" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/TEMPLATES/MultiTrackInlinePlayer/MultiTrackInlinePlayer.v1.1.swf" flashvars="dataURL=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/TEMPLATES/MultiTrackInlinePlayer/data/2012010104_Noise.xml&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="190" height="120" wmode="opaque" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/></object></div><p>The one benefit of depression for me is that it can act as a goad, pushing me to search for something new — new feelings rather than depressed ones, new sounds rather than those with which I am too familiar. If while composing I become afraid of the music I am writing, I know that I have arrived at the extreme place where I want to be. When fear arises, I’ve reached the threshold between the known and the unknown. If I’m able to continue composing while tolerating the fear, I will be writing music that is new to me.</p><p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/#more-137379" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/" data-title="The Score: My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression" data-description="My music had always been deeply informed by my depression. Listen to what happened when it finally began to lift. "></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138749 post type-post status-publish hentry category-disunion tag-bates-edward-1793-1869 tag-chase-salmon-p tag-citizenship-and-naturalization tag-civil-war-us-1861-65 tag-slavery tag-supreme-court tag-united-states entry " id="entry-138749"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">Disunion</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-15T17:30:31+00:00" title="January 15, 2013, 12:30 pm"> January 15, 2013, 12:30 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/emancipation-then-what/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/emancipation-then-what/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Emancipation — Then What?">Emancipation — Then What?</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/michael-vorenberg/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by MICHAEL VORENBERG">MICHAEL VORENBERG</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Disunion" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/disunion/disunion45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">Disunion</a> follows the Civil War as it unfolded.</p></div></div><p>Two weeks after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a headline in The Detroit Free Press asked, “Is a Negro Eligible to the Presidency?” The editorial that followed offered an unequivocal “Yes.” A fiercely pro-Democratic paper, The Free Press despised the fact that the presidency, along with “all official positions,” could now “be open to the nigger.”</p><p>In the early weeks of 1863, such racist invective peppered the rhetoric of those disgusted by Lincoln’s edict of Jan. 1. But The Free Press was not talking about the Emancipation Proclamation when it declared “negro” eligibility for the presidency a “monstrous result.” Rather, it was talking about a document that history has tended to neglect, even though at the time many saw it as a critical adjunct to the Proclamation: the opinion of Attorney General Edward Bates declaring that free African-Americans born in the United States were citizens.</p><p>Bates had written the long opinion in November 1862, but newspapers did not get wind of the document until the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation. When they did, Bates at first downplayed his opinion’s significance, saying it dealt only with the citizenship status of one specific person, a free black man named David Selsey. But when pressed, he conceded that the document did indeed refute the part of the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision declaring that “colored” men had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” The press, public and politicians went wild. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/emancipation-then-what/#more-138749" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/emancipation-then-what/" data-title="Disunion: Emancipation — Then What?" data-description="Though it is forgotten today, Attorney General Edward Bates's opinion in the Selsey case revolutionized American citizenship."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138714 post type-post status-publish hentry category-the-stone category-_featured tag-anonymous-internet-group tag-computer-security tag-cyberattacks-and-hackers tag-lulz-security tag-openleaks tag-philosophy entry " id="entry-138714"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">The Stone</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-14T01:30:36+00:00" title="January 13, 2013, 8:30 pm"> January 13, 2013, 8:30 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to What Is a ‘Hacktivist’?">What Is a ‘Hacktivist’?</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/peter-ludlow/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by PETER LUDLOW">PETER LUDLOW</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="The Stone" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/thestone45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">The Stone</a> is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.</p></div></div><p>The untimely death of the young Internet activist Aaron Swartz, apparently by suicide, has prompted an outpouring of reaction in the digital world. Foremost among the debates being reheated — one which had already grown in the wake of larger and more daring data breaches in the past few years — is whether Swartz’s activities as a “hacktivist” were being unfairly defined as malicious or criminal. In particular, critics (as well as Swartz’s family in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/aaron-swartzs-memorial-servi.html">formal statement</a>) have focused on the federal government’s indictment of Swartz for downloading millions of documents from the scholarly database JSTOR, an action which JSTOR itself had declined to prosecute.</p><div class="w190 right module"><div class="entry"><h6 class="kicker">Related</h6><ul class="refer"><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/technology/aaron-swartz-internet-activist-dies-at-26.html">Aaron Swartz, Internet Activist, a Creator of RSS, Is Dead at 26</a></li></ul></div></div><p>I believe the debate itself is far broader than the specifics of this unhappy case, for if there was prosecutorial overreach it raises the question of whether we as a society created the enabling condition for this sort of overreach by letting the demonization of hacktivists go unanswered. Prosecutors do not work in a vacuum, after all; they are more apt to pursue cases where public discourse supports their actions. The debate thus raises an issue that, as philosopher of language, I have spent time considering: the impact of how words and terms are defined in the public sphere.</p><p>“Lexical Warfare” is a phrase that I like to use for battles over how a term is to be understood. Our political discourse is full of such battles; it is pretty routine to find discussions of who gets to be called “Republican” (as opposed to RINO – Republican in Name Only), what “freedom” should mean, what legitimately gets to be called “rape” —and the list goes on.</p><div class="w592"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/13/opinion/0113STONE1/0113STONE1-tmagArticle.jpg" id="100000001998001" width="592" height="360" alt=""/></a><span class="credit">Leif Parsons</span> <span class="caption"></span></div><p>Lexical warfare is important because it can be a device to marginalize individuals within their self-identified political affiliation (for example, branding RINO’s defines them as something other than true Republicans), or it can beguile us into ignoring true threats to freedom (focusing on threats from government while being blind to threats from corporations, religion and custom), and in cases in which the word in question is “rape,” the definition can have far reaching consequences for the rights of women and social policy.<br/> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/#more-138714" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" data-title="The Stone: What Is a 'Hacktivist'? " data-description="The death of Aaron Swartz is sure to heat up the 'lexical warfare' over the meaning of the word 'hacktivism.'"></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138636 post type-post status-publish hentry category-anxiety category-_featured tag-anxiety tag-literature tag-violence entry " id="entry-138636"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/anxiety/">Anxiety</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-12T20:10:39+00:00" title="January 12, 2013, 3:10 pm"> January 12, 2013, 3:10 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Someone’s Knocking at My Door">Someone’s Knocking at My Door</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/laszlo-krasznahorkai/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by LáSZLó KRASZNAHORKAI">LáSZLó KRASZNAHORKAI</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Anxiety" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/anxiety/anxiety45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/anxiety/">Anxiety:</a> We worry. A gallery of contributors count the ways.</p></div></div><p><em>The editors of Anxiety recently asked the Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai to contribute to the series. Below, in the author’s words, is “a lyrical essay about the terrible meeting between boorishness and aggressiveness,” a meditation on a type of violent person who produces in him “the deepest personal anxiety.” It was translated by George Szirtes from the Hungarian.</em></p><hr/><p>I’ve been living in complete silence for months, I might say for years, with just the usual dull sounds you hear at the outskirts of town, the occasional echo of steps in the corridor and, further off, in the stairwell, someone dragging a sack, a carpet, a package, or a corpse, God knows what, along the ground; or the sound of the elevator as it slows, stops, opens, then closes and starts to rise or descend. Every so often a dog barks briefly, someone laughs or shouts. But everything dies away, soon lost in the constant low-level murmur of the street outside. That is what complete silence is like round here.</p><p>There are of course times I put on a Zelenka mass or listen to one of Schiff’s “Wohltemperiertes Klavier” interpretations, or take out Spoon, Karen Dalton or Vic Chesnutt, but after a few bars I turn it off so it may be quiet again, because I want to be ready and I don’t want anything disturbing going on when he arrives and finds me. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/#more-138636" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" data-title="Anxiety: Someone's Knocking at My Door" data-description="A Hungarian novelist awaits a visit from hate and violence personified."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138674 post type-post status-publish hentry category-draft tag-child tag-childhood tag-writing entry " id="entry-138674"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">Draft</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-12T19:49:51+00:00" title="January 12, 2013, 2:49 pm"> January 12, 2013, 2:49 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Writing About What Haunts Us">Writing About What Haunts Us</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/peter-orner/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by PETER ORNER">PETER ORNER</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Draft" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/draft/draft45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">Draft</a> is a series about the art and craft of writing.</p></div></div><p>I’ve been trying to lie about this story for years. As a fiction writer, I feel an almost righteous obligation to the untruth. Fabrication is my livelihood, and so telling something straight, for me, is the mark of failure. Yet in many attempts over the years I’ve not been able to make out of this tiny — but weirdly soul-defining — episode in my life anything more than a plain recounting of the facts, as best as I can remember them. Dressing them up into fiction, in this case, wrecked what is essentially a long overdue confession.</p><p>Here’s the nonfiction version.</p><p>I watched my father in the front hall putting on his new, lambskin leather gloves. It was a sort of private ceremony. This was in early November, 1982, in Highland Park, Ill., a town north of Chicago along Lake Michigan. My father had just returned from a business trip to Paris. He’d bought the gloves at a place called Hermès, a mythical wonderland of a store. He pulled one on slowly, then the other, and held them up in the mirror to see how his hands looked in such gloves.</p><p>A week later, I stole them. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/#more-138674" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/" data-title="Draft: Writing About What Haunts Us" data-description="I’ve been trying to lie about this story for years."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138692 post type-post status-publish hentry category-dick-cavett tag-guns tag-movies tag-nra entry " id="entry-138692"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/dick-cavett/">Dick Cavett</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-12T02:00:16+00:00" title="January 11, 2013, 9:00 pm"> January 11, 2013, 9:00 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Back When I Was Packing">Back When I Was Packing</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/dick-cavett/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by DICK CAVETT">DICK CAVETT</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Dick Cavett" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Cavett_New/Cavett_New-custom2.jpg" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/dick-cavett">Dick Cavett</a> on his career in show business, and more.</p></div></div><p>I know what it feels like to be a gun lover.</p><p>As a kid watching Saturday afternoon World War II movies in Nebraska, I fell head over heels in love. With the Luger. I don’t expect more than a handful of folks to know what I’m talking about. But it was real and it was intense; terms usually associated, I know, with a love affair.</p><p>There is something about a Luger that separates it from all other handguns, and Luger devotees and Luger society members speak of it in romantic terms that must sound plain nuts to those who consider themselves level-headed.</p><p>I sat in the dark and watched Helmut Dantine, the downed German flyer in “Mrs. Miniver,” menace Greer Garson with his Luger and, yes, I dreamed that night that he came to Grand Island, Neb., and gave the gun to me.</p><p>No other gun has ever appealed to me in the least.<br/> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/#more-138692" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/" data-title="Dick Cavett: Back When I Was Packing" data-description="A movie-spawned fascination with Lugers bumps up against the reality of today's assault weapons."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138655 post type-post status-publish hentry category-schooling tag-education-k-12 tag-parenting tag-teachers-and-school-employees entry " id="entry-138655"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/schooling/">Schooling</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-11T18:20:54+00:00" title="January 11, 2013, 1:20 pm"> January 11, 2013, 1:20 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet">The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/sara-mosle/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by SARA MOSLE">SARA MOSLE</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Schooling" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/inside-education45.png" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/schooling/">Schooling:</a> Sara Mosle on students, teaching and schools, from within and beyond the classroom.</p></div></div><p>The teacher-parent relationship is a lot like an arranged marriage. Neither side gets a lot of say in the match. Both parties, however, share great responsibility for a child, which can lead to a deeply rewarding partnership or the kind of conflict found in some joint-custody arrangements.</p><p>As a teacher and parent, I see the relationship from a dual perspective. Educators almost universally regard parent involvement within economically disadvantaged student communities as a vital way to boost student achievement.</p><p>Yet in more affluent neighborhoods, active parent engagement, as the clinical psychologist <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.wendymogel.com/books/b_minus/">Wendy Mogel</a> has argued in her latest book, “The Blessing of a B Minus,” can interfere with children’s necessary maturation and strides toward independence.</p><p>Parents of all classes may be forgiven if they can’t clearly identify the point at which a parent goes from providing valued hands-on support to becoming an obstacle to children’s growth. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/#more-138655" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/" data-title="Schooling: The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet " data-description="When does a helping hand become a total nuisance?"></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138644 post type-post status-publish hentry category-disunion tag-david-farragut tag-galveston tag-the-civil-war tag-the-hatteras entry " id="entry-138644"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">Disunion</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-11T18:10:13+00:00" title="January 11, 2013, 1:10 pm"> January 11, 2013, 1:10 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to A Strange Sail">A Strange Sail</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/jed-morrison/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by JED MORRISON">JED MORRISON</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Disunion" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/disunion/disunion45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">Disunion</a> follows the Civil War as it unfolded.</p></div></div><blockquote><p>Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D.C.<br/> October 15, 1862</p><p>Sir: I am happy to inform you that Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Sabine City and the adjacent waters are now in our possession… I sent Commander W.B. Renshaw…to take Galveston, which he did in the shortest time, and without the loss of a man.<br/> – D.G. Farragut, Rear-Admiral, Commanding, Western Gulf Blockading Squadron</p></blockquote><p>As the year 1862 ended, Union naval forces had consolidated effective control of much of the Texas Gulf Coast. From Sabine Pass in the North to the mouth of the Rio Grande, almost all of the roughly 450 miles of Texas coastline were safely in their hands. During that year, minor engagements at Corpus Christi, Galveston and Sabine Pass had effectively secured the coastline from most Confederate shipping.</p><p>The capture of Galveston was the key. Texas was a large cotton producer, and its ability to trade with Mexico, Cuba and other nations through its Gulf ports — mainly Galveston — was crucial to finance the Confederate war effort. So when Union forces under Commander William Renshaw captured Galveston without loss on Oct. 9, Farragut was understandably enthusiastic.</p><p>But naval fortunes can change as quickly as the wind. As the new year dawned, the Union navy was rocked by two disasters. Beginning with the loss of the celebrated ironclad U.S.S. Monitor in a gale off Cape Hatteras on New Year’s Eve, followed by the successful surprise <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/prince-john-recaptures-galveston/">Confederate recapture of the Port of Galveston</a> on New Year’s morning, Union naval forces in one day suffered two devastating psychological and military setbacks. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/#more-138644" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/" data-title="Disunion: A Strange Sail" data-description="The short but pitched battle between the Hatteras and the Alabama was unique, and had long-lasting military consequences."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138630 post type-post status-publish hentry category-timothy-egan tag-light tag-seattle tag-winter tag-writers entry " id="entry-138630"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/">Timothy Egan</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-11T02:00:58+00:00" title="January 10, 2013, 9:00 pm"> January 10, 2013, 9:00 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to The Longest Nights">The Longest Nights</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/timothy-egan/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by TIMOTHY EGAN">TIMOTHY EGAN</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Timothy Egan" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Egan_New/Egan_New-custom2.jpg" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/">Timothy Egan</a> on American politics and life, as seen from the West.</p></div></div><p>In early winter, when the heavy rains come to the Pacific Northwest and we settle under a blanket of sullen sky, something stirs in the creative soul. At the calendar’s gloaming, while the landscape is inert, and all is dark, sluggish, bleak and cold, writers and cooks and artists and tinkerers of all sorts are at their most productive.</p><p>At least, that’s my theory. As a lifelong resident of a latitude well to the north of Maine, I’ve come to the conclusion that creativity needs a season of despair. Where would William Butler Yeats be if he nested in Tuscany? Could Charles Dickens ever have written a word from South Beach? And the sun of Hollywood did much to bleach the talents out of that troubled native of Minnesota, F. Scott Fitzgerald.</p><p>Today, here in Seattle, the sun will set at 4:40 p.m., after making a sketchy appearance of eight hours and 45 minutes. Paris, farther north by 1.2 degrees of latitude, will get even less daylight — eight hours and 35 minutes. And Dublin, straddling the 53rd parallel, will see seven hours and 56 minutes.</p><p>What these cities share, in addition to long winter nights, is a large and active creative class. Countless Americans (and innumerable French artists and writers) have done their best work under la grisaille, as Parisians call their leaden ceiling. Ireland surely has more good writers and dramatists per capita than any country in the world. And in Seattle, you can’t walk outside for a snort of espresso without bumping into a newly published novelist who finally finished the tortured tome after escaping from somewhere with too much distracting sun.<br/> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/#more-138630" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/" data-title="Timothy Egan: The Longest Nights" data-description="Gray skies and short days are conducive to creativity, or, in any event, to work."></div></div><hr/><div class="post-138623 post type-post status-publish hentry category-the-stone category-_featured tag-happiness tag-joy tag-thomas-aquinas tag-zadie-smith entry " id="entry-138623"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">The Stone</a></span> <time datetime="2013-01-10T22:58:03+00:00" title="January 10, 2013, 5:58 pm"> January 10, 2013, 5:58 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden commentCountNumberOnly" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/"></a></span></div><h3 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas">The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas</a></h3> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/gary-gutting/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by GARY GUTTING">GARY GUTTING</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="The Stone" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/thestone45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">The Stone</a> is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.</p></div></div><p>What place does pleasure have in a good life? Should we, following Epicurus and John Stuart Mill, take maximal pleasure as our overriding goal? Or are there higher moral values that trump pleasure?</p><div class="w190 right module"><div class="entry"><blockquote><p>Has Smith’s life revealed to her that acting for pleasure is not rational?</p></blockquote></div></div><p>In a recent essay in The New York Review of Books the writer <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jan/10/joy/?pagination=false">Zadie Smith</a> suggests that joy is essentially different from and humanly more important than pleasure. In her experience, pleasure is a part of daily life, particularly through “small pleasures” (she mentions eating and people-watching) that “go a long way” in giving her satisfaction. But joy is very different; it gives “not much pleasure at all” but is rather a “strange admixture of terror, pain, and delight.” Nonetheless, in her life the joy of “true love” for her husband and child has become far more important than pleasure. It is, she says, “the only thing that makes [life] worthwhile.”</p><p>Smith’s discussion is thoroughly contemporary and hip, centered by a vivid autobiographical account of a club drug experience. But what she’s getting at resonates with a very different treatment of the topic: Thomas Aquinas’s in his “Summa Theologiae” (I-II, question 31, article 3, “Is Joy Altogether the Same Thing as Pleasure?” which I cite in the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/Part%201-2/st1-2-ques31.pdf">translation </a> of my colleague, Fred Freddoso). Aquinas’ approach — systematic, abstract and tightly argued — is the polar opposite of Smith’s. But the two discussions are mutually illuminating.<br/> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/#more-138623" class="more-link">Read more…</a></p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom" data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" data-title="The Stone: The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas" data-description="Bringing together the writing of two very different thinkers to illuminate a fundamental question."></div></div><hr/><div class="nav bottomNav"><ul class="opposingFloatControl wrap"><li class="element1"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/page/2/">Older Entries</a></li><li class="element2"></li></ul></div></div><div id="google_ads_aCol"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_SponLink2 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_SponLink2] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_SponLink2]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_SponLink2 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_SponLink2] == "undefined")) { if($("SponLink2")) { $("SponLink2").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=SponLink2"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=SponLink2&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div></div><div id="cCol"><div id="blog-search" class="clearfix"><div id="side_searchAd"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Position1 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Position1] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Position1]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Position1 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Position1] == "undefined")) { if($("Position1")) { $("Position1").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Position1"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Position1&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div><h4>Search This Blog</h4><form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/"><div> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s"/> <button type="submit" id="blogSearchSubmit">Search</button></div></form></div><div id="blog-index"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/blogs/" title="Blogs - The New York Times">All NYTimes.com Blogs »</a></div><div class="box module nocontent socialMediaModule"><ul class="refer wrap socialSubsBlog"><li><h6 class="kicker">Follow This Blog</h6></li><li class="icon twitter"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://twitter.com/nytopinionator" onmousedown="dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcssip','www.nytimes.com','DCS.dcsuri','/Follow-Blog-Twitter.html','WT.ti','Follow-Blog-Twitter','WT.z_dcsm','1')">Twitter</a></li><li class="icon rssLg"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/feed">RSS</a></li></ul></div><div class="box module nocontent verticalTabSet"><h4>Inside Opinionator</h4><div id="tabWidget-6" class="wrap"><div class="tabsContainer"><ul class="tabs"><li class="selected"><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/thescore25.gif" alt="The Score" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">The Score</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/disunion/disunion25.gif" alt="Disunion" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Disunion</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/thestone25.gif" alt="The Stone" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">The Stone</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/anxiety/anxiety25.gif" alt="Anxiety" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Anxiety</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/draft/draft25.gif" alt="Draft" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Draft</a></div></li><li id="overlayTrigger_controller" class="moreContributors"><a href="javascript:void(0);">More Contributors</a><div class="opposingFloatControl tabOverlayShadow clearfix hidden"><ul class="element1 flushBottom"><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/dick-cavett/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Cavett_New/Cavett_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Dick Cavett" class="left"/> <span class="author">Dick Cavett</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/fixes25.gif" alt="Fixes" class="left"/> <span class="author">Fixes</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/linda-greenhouse/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Greenhouse_New/Greenhouse_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Linda Greenhouse" class="left"/> <span class="author">Linda Greenhouse</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/schooling/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/inside-education25.png" alt="Schooling" class="left"/> <span class="author">Schooling</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-conversation/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/theconversation25.gif" alt="The Conversation" class="left"/> <span class="author">The Conversation</span> </a></li></ul><ul class="element2 flushBottom"><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/things-i-saw/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/things-i-saw/things-i-saw25.png" alt="Things I Saw" class="left"/> <span class="author">Things I Saw</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/thomas-b-edsall/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/08/opinion/Edsall-profile/Edsall-profile-custom2-v2.tiff" alt="Thomas B. Edsall" class="left"/> <span class="author">Thomas B. Edsall</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Egan_New/Egan_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Timothy Egan" class="left"/> <span class="author">Timothy Egan</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/townies/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/townies25.gif" alt="Townies" class="left"/> <span class="author">Townies</span> </a></li><li class="allContributors"><a href="/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/contributors/" class="wrap"><span class="author">All Contributors and Series »</span></a></li></ul></div></li></ul></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 15, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/" title="My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression">My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression</a></h5><p>My music had always been deeply informed by my depression. Listen to what happened when it finally began to lift.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">November 27, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/the-reconstruction-of-rome/" title="The Reconstruction of Rome">The Reconstruction of Rome</a></h5><p>As a young man in Rome, I fought the 1970s orthodoxies to find my voice as a composer. Today, music is transformed. But our new toys need to be used wisely.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-score/">More From The Score »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 15, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/emancipation-then-what/" title="Emancipation — Then What?">Emancipation — Then What?</a></h5><p>Though it is forgotten today, Attorney General Edward Bates’s opinion in the Selsey case revolutionized American citizenship.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/" title="A Strange Sail">A Strange Sail</a></h5><p>The short but pitched battle between the Hatteras and the Alabama was unique, and had long-lasting military consequences.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">More From Disunion »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 13, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" title="What Is a ‘Hacktivist’?">What Is a ‘Hacktivist’? </a></h5><p>The death of Aaron Swartz is sure to heat up the ‘lexical warfare’ over the meaning of the word ‘hacktivism.’</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" title="The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas">The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas</a></h5><p>Bringing together the writing of two very different thinkers to illuminate a fundamental question.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">More From The Stone »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 12, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" title="Someone’s Knocking at My Door">Someone’s Knocking at My Door</a></h5><p>A Hungarian novelist awaits a visit from hate and violence personified.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 5, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/diary-of-a-creep/" title="Diary of a Creep">Diary of a Creep</a></h5><p>I’m a creep. I know this because people — mostly but not always random strangers — tell me so.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/anxiety/">More From Anxiety »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 12, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/" title="Writing About What Haunts Us">Writing About What Haunts Us</a></h5><p>I’ve been trying to lie about this story for years.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 5, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/rapturous-research/" title="Rapturous Research">Rapturous Research</a></h5><p>I have a compulsion: I am addicted to looking things up.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">More From Draft »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/" title="Back When I Was Packing">Back When I Was Packing</a></h5><p>A movie-spawned fascination with Lugers bumps up against the reality of today’s assault weapons.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 14, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/only-in-my-dreams/" title="Only in My Dreams?">Only in My Dreams?</a></h5><p>Waking life can be as surreal, alarming and absurd as the other kind.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/dick-cavett/">More From Dick Cavett »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/" title="The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet">The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet </a></h5><p>When does a helping hand become a total nuisance?</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 20, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/preparing-students-for-a-newtown-like-disaster/" title="Preparing Students for a Newtown-like Disaster">Preparing Students for a Newtown-like Disaster</a></h5><p>Children are already thinking about gunmen in schools, every time they have a lockdown drill.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/schooling/">More From Schooling »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/" title="The Longest Nights">The Longest Nights</a></h5><p>Gray skies and short days are conducive to creativity, or, in any event, to work.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/beginnings/" title="Beginnings">Beginnings</a></h5><p>A 2013 wish list, for Congress, the NFL and certain individuals far too self-regarding to mention here.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/">More From Timothy Egan »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/forced-entry/" title="Forced Entry">Forced Entry</a></h5><p>Was I an accomplice to a rescue, or a break-in?</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/arianna-huffington-and-me/" title="Arianna Huffington and Me">Arianna Huffington and Me</a></h5><p>The first in a month of Townies essays from Washington, D.C.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/townies/">More From Townies »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/things-i-saw-no-52/" title="Things I Saw — No. 52">Things I Saw — No. 52</a></h5><p>The artist draws things he saw in Michigan, Indiana, New York and Canada.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/things-i-saw-no-51/" title="Things I Saw — No. 51">Things I Saw — No. 51</a></h5><p>The artist draws things he saw in Michigan and Ohio.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/things-i-saw/">More From Things I Saw »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/robert-borks-tragedy/" title="Robert Bork’s Tragedy">Robert Bork’s Tragedy</a></h5><p>Judge Bork was a tragic figure, not because he was dealt an unjust hand when he was rejected for the Supreme Court — he wasn’t — but because of his inability to understand what had happened.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 26, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/the-n-r-a-at-the-bench/" title="The N.R.A. at the Bench">The N.R.A. at the Bench</a></h5><p>The National Rifle Association has taken an increasingly active role in judicial nominations.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/linda-greenhouse/">More From Linda Greenhouse »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/the-obama-coalition-vs-corporate-america/" title="The Obama Coalition vs. Corporate America">The Obama Coalition vs. Corporate America</a></h5><p>How much does the shape and scope of the president’s electoral success threaten the policy-making ascendancy of big business?</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/thomas-b-edsall/">More From Thomas B. Edsall »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/hagelian-dialectic/" title="Hagelian Dialectic">Hagelian Dialectic</a></h5><p>Brooks and Collins on the defense nominee and the intertwined fates of his former colleagues Biden, Clinton, Lieberman, McCain, Graham — and Obama.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 2, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/the-fiscal-riff/" title="The Fiscal Riff">The Fiscal Riff</a></h5><p>Brooks and Collins on some other cliffs we might fall off and the overlooked virtues of constitutional monarchy.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-conversation/">More From The Conversation »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 8, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-drug-users-hope-in-a-swift-response/" title="For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine">For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine</a></h5><p>An initiative in Vermont has shown that, for drug offenders, quick intervention and treatment, not drawn-out court punishments, work best.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 19, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/at-years-end-news-of-a-global-health-success/" title="At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success">At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success</a></h5><p>The stunning drop in global child mortality is proof that poor countries are not doomed to eternal misery. Here’s how it happened.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/">More From Fixes »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 8, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-drug-users-hope-in-a-swift-response/" title="For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine">For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine</a></h5><p>An initiative in Vermont has shown that, for drug offenders, quick intervention and treatment, not drawn-out court punishments, work best.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 19, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/at-years-end-news-of-a-global-health-success/" title="At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success">At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success</a></h5><p>The stunning drop in global child mortality is proof that poor countries are not doomed to eternal misery. Here’s how it happened.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/">More From Fixes »</a></p></div></div></div><script type="text/javascript">NYTD.TabSet("tabWidget-6");</script><script type="text/javascript">new NYTD.Blogs.TabSetOverlayRevealer('overlayTrigger_controller').init();</script></div><div class="box module nocontent ad" id="MiddleRight"><div class="bigAdContainer"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_MiddleRight != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_MiddleRight == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight] == "undefined")) { if($("MiddleRight")) { $("MiddleRight").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=MiddleRight"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=MiddleRight&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div></div><div class="box module nocontent opinionHighlights"><h4>Opinionator Highlights</h4><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/the-music-of-depression/" title="My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression">My Dark Materials: The Music of Depression</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By KEERIL MAKAN</h6><p class="summary">My music had always been deeply informed by my depression. Listen to what happened when it finally began to lift.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" title="What Is a ‘Hacktivist’?">What Is a ‘Hacktivist’?</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By PETER LUDLOW</h6><p class="summary">The death of Aaron Swartz is sure to heat up the ‘lexical warfare’ over the meaning of the word ‘hacktivism.’</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/anxiety/anxiety75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" title="Someone’s Knocking at My Door">Someone’s Knocking at My Door</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By LáSZLó KRASZNAHORKAI</h6><p class="summary">A Hungarian novelist awaits a visit from hate and violence personified.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" title="The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas">The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By GARY GUTTING</h6><p class="summary">Bringing together the writing of two very different thinkers to illuminate a fundamental question.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-drug-users-hope-in-a-swift-response/" title="For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine">For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By DAVID BORNSTEIN</h6><p class="summary">An initiative in Vermont has shown that, for drug offenders, quick intervention and treatment, not drawn-out court punishments, work best.</p></div></div><div class="box module nocontent"><h4>Previous Series</h4><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/line-by-line/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/linebyline/linebyline75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/line-by-line/" title="Line by Line">Line by Line</a></h5><p class="summary">A series on the basics of drawing, presented by the artist and author James McMullan, beginning with line, perspective, proportion and structure.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/steven-strogatz/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/opinionator/contributors/strogatz75.jpg" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/steven-strogatz/" title="Steven Strogatz">The Elements of Math</a></h5><p class="summary">A series on math, from the basic to the baffling, by Steven Strogatz. Beginning with why numbers are helpful and finishing with the mysteries of infinity.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/living-rooms/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/livingrooms75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/living-rooms/" title="Living Rooms">Living Rooms</a></h5><p class="summary">The past, present and future of domestic life, with contributions from artists, journalists, design experts and historians.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/specimens/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/specimens/specimens-75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/specimens/" title="Specimens">Specimens</a></h5><p class="summary">This series by Richard Conniff looks at how species discovery has transformed our lives.</p></div></div><div class="box module nocontent ad" id="Box1"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Box1 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Box1] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Box1]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Box1 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Box1] == "undefined")) { if($("Box1")) { $("Box1").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Box1"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Box1&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div><div id="google_ads" class="box module nocontent ad"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_SponLink != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_SponLink] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_SponLink]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_SponLink == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_SponLink] == "undefined")) { if($("SponLink")) { $("SponLink").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=SponLink"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=SponLink&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div></div></div> <footer class="pageFooter"><div class="inset"><nav class="pageFooterNav"><ul class="pageFooterNavList wrap"><li class="firstItem"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytco.com/">© 2013 The New York Times Company</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://spiderbites.nytimes.com/">Site Map</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/privacy">Privacy</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/privacy.html#pp">Your Ad Choices</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.whsites.net/mediakit/">Advertise</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/rights/sale/terms-of-sale.html">Terms of Sale</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/agree.html">Terms of Service</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytco.com/careers">Work With Us</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/rss">RSS</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/sitehelp.html">Help</a></li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html">Contact Us</a></li><li class="lastItem"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/">Site Feedback</a></li></ul></nav></div></footer></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/util/tooltip.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/app/lib/NYTD/contentexpander/1.1/contentexpander.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if((typeof NYTD.Blogs !="undefined") && (typeof NYTD.Blogs.user!="undefined")){if(NYTD.Blogs.user.isLoggedIn()){var dcsvid=NYTD.Blogs.user.getId();var regstatus="registered"}else{var dcsvid="";var regstatus="non-registered"}}; ///*]]>*/</script><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158js_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/js/app/analytics/trackingTags_v1.1.js" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript><div><img alt="DCSIMG" id="DCSIMG" width="1" height="1" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://wt.o.nytimes.com/dcsym57yw10000s1s8g0boozt_9t1x/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript&WT.js=No&WT.tv=1.0.7"/></div> </noscript> <script type="text/javascript">var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/https://ssl." : "https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));</script><script type="text/javascript">var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-4406282-50"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview();</script> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/document.write('<img class="uptCall" height="1" width="3" border="0" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://up.nytimes.com/?d=0//&t=15&s=1&ui=&r=' + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer) + '&u=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location) + '">');/*]]>*/</script> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv1 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv1] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Inv1]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv1 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv1] == "undefined")) { if($("Inv1")) { $("Inv1").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Inv1"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Inv1&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv2 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv2] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Inv2]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv2 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv2] == "undefined")) { if($("Inv2")) { $("Inv2").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Inv2"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Inv2&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv3 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv3] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Inv3]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Inv3 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Inv3] == "undefined")) { if($("Inv3")) { $("Inv3").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Inv3"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Inv3&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom7 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom7] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Bottom7]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom7 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom7] == "undefined")) { if($("Bottom7")) { $("Bottom7").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Bottom7"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Bottom7&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom9 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom9] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Bottom9]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom9 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom9] == "undefined")) { if($("Bottom9")) { $("Bottom9").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Bottom9"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Bottom9&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript><script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom8 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom8] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Bottom8]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Bottom8 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Bottom8] == "undefined")) { if($("Bottom8")) { $("Bottom8").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=Bottom8"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072158im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/frontpage&posall=Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=Bottom8&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></body></html>