Helen De Cruz·Apr 22, 2023Social media despots“The purpose of the state is really freedom” (B. Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treatise)A response icon1A response icon1
Helen De Cruz·Feb 25, 2023Finding strength in vulnerabilityA new headline in the Atlantic reads, "Are colds really worse, or are we all just weak babies now?" The writer, Katherine Wu, argues that…A response icon12A response icon12
Helen De Cruz·Feb 10, 2023How to (really) learn from what far right politicians are doingEvery so often, an opinion piece appears with a structure so set it might have been written by an AI. Invariably, these pieces draw the…
Helen De Cruz·Dec 29, 20222022 — The delight of solitarinessWell, 2022 was interesting. It’s late in the evening, almost new year, and since this blog only has a small audience I do not feel bad…
Helen De Cruz·Nov 18, 2022Property, ownership and the Twitter conundrum“If only we had taxed the rich maybe none of this would have happened," Alexandra Ocasio Cortez tweeted.
Helen De Cruz·Sep 5, 2022What makes Melville’s Le Samourai cool?“I like to take risks. My films never follow the current trend.”
Helen De Cruz·Apr 29, 2022The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe is pretty good!Dreamy, feverish, introspective, psychoanalytic, Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) is the perfect read for when you have Covid…
Helen De Cruz·Jun 12, 2021A dazzling multiplicity of worlds : summary of de Fontenelle’s Plurality of Worlds (1686)Frontispice of De Fontenelle’s Entretiens Sur la Pluralité Des Mondes (1686)
Helen De Cruz·Feb 4, 2021Piranesi: philosophical meditations on freedom, horror and the mystical sublimeI wasn’t sure what to expert of Piranesi. I enjoyed Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a large-scope ambitious novel, and…
Helen De Cruz·Oct 29, 2020Some thoughts on white women academics passing themselves off as women of color2020, it’s been quite the year. One of the minor story lines in this ongoing bizarre-fest are reports of white women academics passing…
