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2009 List of Lists

December 18th, 2009 | Filed under: News, The Written World

Amongst a few things, 2009 for me will be the year of the lists.  Becoming familiar with any community of interest requires information, and the best way to “inscribe oneself” into  a narrative is first of all through the opinion of others.  Over time we can question those bias and change ourselves, but for now these opinions are a basic and useful starting point.  Here are a few reading lists for 2009.  I may add some more eventually.  For now they contain enough recommendations to keep me busy for the upcoming year.

The Millions: A Year in Reading 2009 Blake Butler’s list on <HTMLGIANT>:  25 Important Books of the 00s Online Degrees: 50 Best Literature Blogs Emerging Writers Network: 2009 Holiday Gift Suggestions Anna Clark’s list on Isak: Choose Books: Complete Gift Guide Daily Beast’s: Our Favorite Books of 2009 Blake Butler’s 2009 Reading Summary: 106.2 Books in 2009

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Minarets in Switzerland

December 2nd, 2009 | Filed under: News

It’s difficult to find anything humorous or ironic in Switzerland’s decision to change their constitution to ban the construction of new minarets in any of their cantons.  Crooked Timber has an intelligent insight.   But overall it’s an appalling and worrying precedent.  It’s targeted discrimination against a religious minority.  As Doug Saunders in the Globe & Mail observes, “Even as European human-rights courts began attempts to block the Swiss amendment Monday, extremist politicians across Europe were examining their countries’ laws to see if a similar referendum could be accomplished.”  Emboldening bigots and re-writing the facts of religious behaviour (there are only 4 minarets now in Switzerland, and none of the communities espouse sharia law) is worrisome.  Using laws for your own insecurity is shown historically to never work.

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