ESSAY: Power

ESSAY: Power

By Tom Robotham  The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation:… You must elect your work; you shall take what your brain can, and drop all the rest.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson. Lately, I’ve been feeling powerless. One reason, no doubt, is that...
ESSAY: Power

ESSAY: On Masculinity

By Tom Robotham Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.  – Margaret...
ESSAY: Power

ESSAY: Daily News

By Tom Robotham Recently, I sat on a panel—convened at Old Dominion University—to talk about the state of journalism. I was impressed by the students in attendance. They struck me as bright, and they seemed to be knowledgeable about current events. That said, they...
ESSAY: Power

Live it Up

By Tom Robotham Our total attitude towards art, was, like, get up and do something — quit sitting there whining. – David Johansen, on the spirt of The New York Dolls In 1982, when I was working as a reporter and music columnist for The Staten Island Advance, I got...
ESSAY: Power

ESSAY: Sounds of Silence

By Tom Robotham For the last decade or so, I’ve been in the habit of turning on CNN first thing in the morning, and letting it run for hours until it was time head to campus for afternoon classes. Often, it was background chatter while I prepared lectures, graded...