Culpability by Bruce Holsinger reminds me of nothing so much as Harvard Law Professor Michael Sandel’s course on justice and making ethical decisions, especially when choosing between two, equally problematic alternatives. Holsinger’s novel is set in the era of artificial intelligence. Attorney Noah Cassidy and his wife, Lorelei Shaw, a prominent leader in the field …
Continue reading A novel look at Moral Responsibility in the world of A.I.
Help me out here. I’m struggling with conflicting messages about Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and inspirational leader especially to young, college-age conservatives. In our ever-escalating culture of violence, his horrific assassination has become the latest prominent expression of solving political disagreements with the trigger or the blade. What perplexes me is the …
Continue reading Myth building around slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk
Clean by Alia Trabuco Zeran, translated by Sophie Hughes, is a probing novel about class, bias and a crime. The reader is hooked on the first page, told that a child has drowned, under mysterious circumstances. The narrator, sitting in a cell, speaks directly to the reader. The narrator, Estela Garcia, had moved from a …
When I was a child, my mother took me on a "cruise" of the Charles River. What do I remember of it? The closer we got to Boston Harbor, the worse the smell. You could see the luminous blue/green oil slicks on the surface. Your stomach would churn from the sewage routinely dumped from the …
Continue reading Sewer to sparkle: the cleanup of Boston Harbor
Marjorie Arons-Barron 