I watched the classic zombie movie Dawn of the Dead last night, and was somewhat surprised to discover that, far from being a horror film, it is actually a semi-utopian romance. The fact that two of the four main characters end up as zombies is somewhat immaterial. After brief purging of the slow-as-snails undead andContinue reading “Carve our name in hearts into the warhead”
Author Archives: Katie Botkin
Fact-checking Lewis
Re-reading C.S. Lewis is always something of a trip for me, since I started reading him at such an early age; too early, in fact, to understand up to half the words he used. I remember reading his list of titles to impress one of my younger siblings, pronouncing “Nephew” like “Nep-ew,” and deciding thatContinue reading “Fact-checking Lewis”
Hell in a breadbasket
I had a dream about the scratch plow last night, the point of which was that agriculture had destroyed the world. I was watching the first man plow the first field, with a curious sense of foreboding, knowing all the evil that would befall the human race because of his ingenuity. Our entire way ofContinue reading “Hell in a breadbasket”
In northwest Iowa
I have been coming here ever since I can remember. My father worked this land, weeding beans, feeding livestock. My grandmother grew up here, in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. Her father grew up here, in the dawn of agricultural industrialism. So when I drive up the lane, the smell of the place hits me, familiar,Continue reading “In northwest Iowa”
Legal theories and medical crises
The American medical system is suffering from two epistemological errors: the idea that to get any medical treatment you must get a certified doctor’s sign-off, and the idea that if you don’t, you can sue somebody for millions. You can talk all you want about evil insurance companies, but the cost of medical care inContinue reading “Legal theories and medical crises”
Europe 2010
The Danes
This morning I got dressed in black leggings, relatively short casual skirt, black boots, black shirt, baggy rainproof coat. Took myself out to the streets of Copenhagen and discovered that 90 percent or more of the female population was wearing at least one of these items… and my expression. Semi-gaunt chicks with slightly rumpled hairContinue reading “The Danes”
Courting sleep
I just napped for four hours or more here in a hostel in Copenhagen, with the rain falling and birds chirping and children yelping outside the open window … I needed the rest. Oddly enough, I’ve had trouble sleeping all my time so far in Europe, in part because I was in higher-end hotels withContinue reading “Courting sleep”
This just in: food hazardous to health
You can find schools of thought touting reasons to give up red meat (it causes colon cancer, heart attacks, mad cow disease) or really meat or animal products of any kind (you could get bird flu, for one thing, and it’s just all around bad), gluten (a high risk of death in those with undiagnosedContinue reading “This just in: food hazardous to health”
Scent of a woman
Men and women may not agree on what the epitome of female beauty is, but generally their tastes are fairly similar (higher hip-to-waist ratio, hourglass shape without too much excess, fine nose and bone structure, and so on). However, there are certainly exceptions to this rule. We all know girls whom men find attractive andContinue reading “Scent of a woman”
Botkin Creative 