August 2019
Harlem’s Tennis Superstar
![Harlem’s Tennis Superstar](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175732/Althea_Gibson-400x90.jpg)
Back when Gibson was growing up, in the 1930s and 1940s, it would have been a hive of activity, shrieking kids running around playing stickball, punchball, marbles and a variety of tag games. And as fate had it, there was another activity taking place on the doorstep of her...
Read MoreColonial Responses to the Nazi Regime
![Colonial Responses to the Nazi Regime](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175752/Cameroon_chief_German_armour1-400x90.jpg)
it was an often deplored “fact” among German enthusiasts of colonialism that too few of their compatriots were thoroughly interested in the colonies.
Read MoreChange the Moral Climate
![Change the Moral Climate](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175747/800px-Sherco_Generating_Station_-_Xcel_Energy_Sherburne_County_Coal-Fired_Power_Plant_-_Sunset_24077210421-400x90.jpg)
The U.S. now has two coal-burning power plants that avoid dumping carbon dioxide into the air.
Read MoreBeloved Toni Morrison
![Beloved Toni Morrison](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175756/8596905581_7acb9e071a_z-400x90.jpg)
What I cherish most about Toni Morrison’s work is the way that she used the English language: to its fullest, across its entire range.
Read MoreWhat binds Hongkongers?
![What binds Hongkongers?](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175759/48108527758_68e5f32bce_k-400x90.jpg)
What binds Hongkongers as a human collective to speak truth to power? Generations have experienced Hong Kong as a land of opportunities and refuge.
Read MoreKashmir Cut Off
![Kashmir Cut Off](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175803/Border_of_Azad_Kashmir_And_Indian_state_of_Jammu_and_Kashmir-400x90.jpg)
In an unsettled world, amid violent wars and imperial occupations, with all norms ruthlessly cast aside, did Kashmir really have a chance to be free?
Read MoreAfter the Revolution
![After the Revolution](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175808/Alaa_Salah_by_Lana_H._Haroun-400x90.jpg)
If I could walk, I would go to the streets again”, Muna*, a 25-year-old Sudanese protester, told me over the phone recently. She was shot and severely injured by the army...
Read MoreHow to Party Like an Existentialist
![How to Party Like an Existentialist](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18152919/Che-400x90.jpg)
Existentialism has a reputation for being angst-ridden and gloomy mostly because of its emphasis on pondering the meaninglessness of existence, but two of the best-known existentialists knew how to have fun in the face of absurdity.
Read MoreEric D. Lehman: Art Below Sea Level
![Eric D. Lehman: Art Below Sea Level](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175829/night-watch-400x90.jpg)
Whoever decided to keep the most art per square mile anywhere in the world below sea level had a singular faith in human civilization...
Read MoreNicholas Rombes: One Perfect Sentence #8
![Nicholas Rombes: One Perfect Sentence #8](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175836/ro-kwon1-400x90.jpg)
In Kwon’s novel, this line is overheard by Will as he observes the young woman of his obsession—Phoebe—drift slowly into the orbit of cultist John Leal.
Read MoreTriple Bluffs by Jessica Sequeira
![Triple Bluffs by Jessica Sequeira](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175825/med-sea-400x90.jpg)
Two books about solitary poets travelling the Mediterranean and writing poems came my way within a relatively short period of time; it made sense to treat them within the same space.
Read MoreBumbling Brexit
![Bumbling Brexit](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175843/12351755724_0135f94f18_k-400x90.jpg)
In his only novel, Seventy-Two Virgins, published in 2004, Boris Johnson uses a strange word. The hero, like Johnson himself at the time, is a backbench Conservative member of the House of Commons.
Read MoreEd Simon: The Final Sentence
![Ed Simon: The Final Sentence](https://berfrois.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/08/18175846/blake-adam-eve-400x90.jpg)
Narrative is a strange thing, that little circumscribed universe bound between the covers of a book. Unlike life, a novel actually draws to a close.
Read MoreThe tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right...
Read MoreThe thing about new blooms is that they tend to bleed— / Those petals birthed / hugging close / that come warmer weather are tricked into jumping away...
Read MoreI spent a good part of my childhood at home staring outside my bedroom window, following the trail of planes approaching the nearby Paris airport in the sky from my banlieue. I envied the passengers...
Read MoreThe tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right...
Read MoreThe thing about new blooms is that they tend to bleed— / Those petals birthed / hugging close / that come warmer weather are tricked into jumping away...
Read MoreI spent a good part of my childhood at home staring outside my bedroom window, following the trail of planes approaching the nearby Paris airport in the sky from my banlieue. I envied the passengers...
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