Stephen Akey

May 6, 2024 | persuasion.community | Stephen Akey

Being a lifelong, mild, and not especially engagé liberal, I was surprised and somewhat flattered when in the spring of 1990 I was invited to join the newly formed Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG). A few months before, I had published an article in The New Republic critiquing the current vogue towards the overt commercialization of library acquisitions that, from my perspective on the reference desk at the Brooklyn Public Library, wasn’t serving the public very well.

Apr 4, 2024 | americanpurpose.com | Natalie Gonnella-Platts |Jeffrey Gedmin |Stephen Akey

If things end up going south for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, would America’s Sweetheart respond by releasing an album of songs dedicated to the notion that her ex was a conniving, money-grubbing incubus whose cold-hearted rejection sent the already damaged singer into a spiral of self-destructive misery? It’s not that Swift hasn’t written breakup songs; but if any of her songs reference her cocaine consumption or her traffic with sex workers, I must have missed them.

Mar 4, 2024 | quillette.com | Marilyn Simon |Jacob Bielecki |Stephen Akey

It is Lent. The time of year when a Christian is asked to contemplate her own sinfulness and mortality. We are given 40 days to do this. Take your time. No need to panic. This is a period of introspection. The prayers I recite pull away the layers of self-deceit and self-justifications that clamour within my inner voice.

Mar 1, 2024 | americanpurpose.com | Stephen Akey

In South Pacific (1949), that piece of hoary Americana beloved by community theater directors everywhere, Nellie Forbush must overcome one obstacle before winning the man of her dreams and ushering in the obligatory happy ending of a typical Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. A rival suitor? Domestic obligations prevailing over her heart’s desire? A pile-up of comic misunderstandings?

Feb 20, 2024 | quillette.com | Stephen Akey |Kevin Mims |David Cohen

A review of World Authors: 1900–1950, Four-Volume Setedited by Martin Seymour-Smith and Andrew C. Kimmens, 3,005 pages, H.W. Wilson Company, Inc. (December 1996).