#BTColumn – The onus is on us (Part 1)
Article by July 20, 2021
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.
by
Adrian Sobers
“Yet you have made them [human beings] a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour.” – (
Psalm 8:5, NRSV) “Glory to man in the highest! For Man is the master of things.” – (
Algernon Swinburne, Hymn of Man)
Whether interacting with scholars or the streets, Jesus grounded their misunderstanding(s) not in Scripture, but on their misunderstanding of, and/or failure to, accept them. He placed the onus on us: “have you never read in the Scriptures …” (
Macquarie University/The Lighthouse
Australia’s wartime leader John Curtin declared from his first days in office that everyone should read poetry, writes Macquarie University poetry scholar and Curtin’s great-grandson, Dr Toby Davidson, author of a new book about the PM’s passion for verse.
When he first became Prime Minister in October 1941, John Curtin informed the press that he held to a Sunday night poetry reading ritual and he declared that “every man should read poetry for the good of his soul”.
Well versed: As Prime Minister, John Curtin’s wartime speeches quoted Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron and others.
By Lucy Morgan Audience and Content Editor
East Dene in Bonchurch School trip getaway and wedding venue East Dene will close its gates for the final time on Friday - just shy of its 100 year anniversary. Its owners say they are devastated that some of the best staff in the world will lose their jobs. Built in 1824, and set in 10 acres of woodland, the mansion is a listed property, best known as a venue for school trips. It has also hosted scored of weddings and generations of Island schoolchildren. It was formerly the home of poet Algernon Swinburne. Its owners told the County Press that they had hoped to be able to reopen and host residential trips in 2021.
Henry James Thought Oscar Wilde Was a Talentless Self-Promoter. Here s What Happened When The Two Met.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On January 8, 1882, Henry James, visiting Washington from his home in London, wrote this in a letter to a friend in Britain:
I believe that Washington is the place in the world where money or the absence of it, matters least. It is very queer and yet extremely pleasant: informal, familiar, heterogeneous, good-natured, essentially social and conversational, enormously big and yet extremely provincial, indefinably ridiculous and yet eminently agreeable…. The sky is blue, the sun is warm, the women are charming, and at dinners the talk is always general.