In politics as in life the squeaky wheel gets the oil So our discussion of foreign affairs tends to focus on the trouble spots the on-going war in Iraq the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran the paranoid regime in Myanmar the genocide in Darfur But our political leaders should not look simply a

Terry Gross probably the best interviewer around after Tim Reidy of course interviews Ron Hansen about his new book Exiles on her NPR show Fresh Air today See post below Two New Raves about his new novel on Gerard Manley Hopkins and the writing of The Wreck of the Deutschland No

When I lived at Ciszek Hall the Jesuit house of First Studies near Fordham University in the Bronx the residents ranged in age from 23 a first-year scholastic to 83 our house father Despite the six decades that separated the two both had studied philosophy under the same Jesuit Norrie Clark

Few issues invite equal measures of demagoguery from both political parties as aging Republicans warn that Social Security will run dry when advocating their privatization schemes Democrats scare seniors with the specter of Wall Street bankers robbing them of their Social Security checks Politica

Special guest blogger Stephanie Ratcliffe the magazine s design and production coordinator--who is responsible for physically laying out the magazine--is also a talented artist in her own right A few weeks ago we featured on our cover her delightful image of our Founding Editor John Wynne

We re pleased to announce that Austen Ivereigh has joined our roster of bloggers A former deputy editor at The Tablet of London Austen s most recent article for America was about Tony Blair s baptism into the Catholic Church This week Austen offers a British view of the U S race for pres