Check Out Daniel J. Flynn on ‘Custer’s Next-to-Last Stand’ at City Journal
By David M. Swindle
Many thanks to Daniel J. Flynn for his kind mention of Liberty Island in his review of the new historical novel Armstrong, by H.W. Crocker, III.
The Garrison Mentality: More Than Meets The Eye
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 6: Animation
By Josh Lieblein
The consequence free hipster odyssey of Scott Pilgrim and the gritty, blood-soaked path trod by Wolverine do not contradict one another – they are one and the same. This contradiction plays itself out in a concept called “the garrison mentality“- broadly, the idea that Canadians invent or seek out their own personal wars despite living in relative peace. But rather than explicate this confusing concept through politics or history, I will do it using two children’s cartoons with Canadian roots.
One, “Transformers: Beast Wars,” is likely well known to you. Everybody knows the robots in disguise thanks to Michael Bay’s explosion-soaked series of films. (Hilariously, and proving my point in a way, “Beast Wars” was deemed to be too violent a title for Canadians, so the show was known in Canada as ‘Beasties.'”) The other, “ReBoot,” is acclaimed in animation circles but enjoys much less popular fandom. Both were created by Vancouver-based Mainframe Entertainment.
Visually, these two series have not aged well. Being early-to-mid 1990s CGI, the uncanny valley runs deep through them. But the writing, voice acting and character development remain top-notch and surprisingly deep. And, for the purposes of our discussion, the ancient animation actually helps convey the sense of unease and low-level threat central to the garrison mentality.
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, the guns fell silent…
A Veteran’s Day Reflection
By David Churchill Barrow
We now call it Veteran’s Day, because to continue to refer to it as “Armistice Day” would seem like a cruel joke, given subsequent events. It was billed as “the war to end wars” and “the war to make the world safe for democracy.” Naive idealism ran so high that even 10 years after the war the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed, purporting to end war as a dispute resolution among nations (and although historians tend to smirk at its mention, it was the beginning of our undue reliance upon weak international forums rather than time-tested deterrence).
PreTeena: November 5 – November 11, 2018
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected] Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
This Is the Virgin River
By Audie Cockings
*Submit your photographs of nature and the outdoor life to [email protected] to participate in this weekly feature exploring the natural world.*
11 Risks of Self-Driving Cars Most Don’t Consider
By Tamara Wilhite
Self-driving cars are upheld as a shining solution to so many problems. Drunk driving doesn’t matter if the car drives the drunk home. Teens can take rides anywhere at any time. Older adults can still access transportation even as vision and reflexes deteriorate. However, there are risks introduced by self-driving cars many fail to consider. Here is a short list of concerns beyond your insurance rate spiking because you’re braking so hard…
The Greatest Conservative Films: Shaft (1971)
By Eric M. Blake
Editor’s Note: In April of 2017 writer Eric M. Blake began a series at Western Free Press naming the “Greatest Conservative Films.” The introduction explaining the rules and indexing all films included in the series can be found here. Liberty Island will feature cross-posts of select essays from the series with the aim of encouraging discussion at this cross-roads of cinematic art with political ideology. (Click here to see the original essay. Check out the previously cross-posted entries on Jackie Brown, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Unforgiven, Hail, Caesar!, Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ULTIMATE EDITION, Wonder Woman, Kill Bill, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Blazing Saddles, and The Magnificent Seven.) If you would like join this dialogue please contact us at submissions [@] libertyislandmag.com.
Check Out the First Chapter For New Thriller ‘Skills To Kill’
Meet Steve Dane and Nina Talikova — they’re not to be messed with!
By Brian Drake
“WILL YOU shoot him already?”
Steve Dane laughed and shifted in the bed. The accordion down the hall continued blaring. Nina rolled away from him and pulled the covers over her.
Male and female laughter mingled with the noise. The party had been going on since midnight.
“Laugh all you want,” she said. “You won’t get any of my goodies until that man is dead.” Her words were dusted with a soft Russian accent.
Dane said, “Other than the noise, it’s a nice hotel, right?”
“It is not. I get to pick next time.”
“This is one of the nicest hotels in Italy. This is what you wanted.”
“Next time we’ll go to Geneva.”
The downstairs staff had acknowledged receiving many complaints, but they were powerless to help. The accordion player was a pop star, whose name Dane had forgotten, who had lots and lots of money that he spent at the hotel and surrounding establishments, and they were not going to disturb him lest he start breaking things and decide to spend his lots and lots of money elsewhere.
[Click here to purchase this novel on Amazon.]
New Science Fiction: Why Me?, 1987
By David Walls-Kaufman
In 1984 they arrested me.
In 1987 I got out of reeducation.
I didn’t actually learn anything in reeducation. Of course I could repeat by rote every lesson they “taught” me. It isn’t teaching. It is hearing the same things over and over. Until you cringe in all your being against anything different.
But me, I was overhandled past terror, to numbness. I really don’t care. Yes, I learned my lesson. But I also understand them now and know they have nothing to fear from me because I am broken by the experience of how cunning they are. I know they are reading these writings, these scratchings. I leave them out for them to find.
From the Big Bang to Sinatra’s ‘Night and Day’
Great Moments in Chaos and Order, Part 1
By Fred Tribuzzo
From the unknown, let’s call it the eternal, a place outside of time and space, comes ignition and a monstrous flash of energy. This creative power unleashes the universe and births the stars. The Big Bang made its appearance some 14 billion years ago, followed by the Earth at 4.5 billion years. Single-cell microorganisms clock in a billion years later.
In the 1920s the Big Bang’s lines of energy reached the well-ordered mind of Belgian priest George Lemaitre, who had been studying the universe’s creation, incorporating Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and unearthing that flashy moment of creation when an itsy-bitsy particle ignited our ever-expanding universe.
Battling some dissenters, atheist Stephen Hawking agreed that the Jesuit priest was the Father of the Big Bang theory. Hawking also believed that if the Big Bang had come out of the chute a tad slow, or too fast, life would never have developed. Perhaps only in Western Civilization would a priest and a confirmed atheist have strong points of agreement, both affected by the energy traces of the Big Bang, and both departing the world, not as the punchline of a joke, but with plenty of grace.
