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Miami Herald
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
New '1984' foreword includes warning about ‘problematic' characters
The 75th anniversary edition of George Orwell's novel 1984, which coined the term 'thoughtcrime' to describe the act of having thoughts that question the ruling party's ideology, has become an ironic lightning rod in debates over alleged trigger warnings and the role of historical context in classic literature. The introduction to the new edition, endorsed by Orwell's estate and written by the American author Dolen Perkins-Valdezm, is at the center of the storm, drawing fire from conservative commentators as well as public intellectuals, and prompting a wide spectrum of reaction from academics who study Orwell's work. Perkins-Valdez opens the introduction with a self-reflective exercise: imagining what it would be like to read 1984 for the first time today. She writes that 'a sliver of connection can be difficult for someone like me to find in a novel that does not speak much to race and ethnicity,' noting the complete absence of Black characters. She also describes her pause at the protagonist Winston Smith's 'despicable' misogyny, but ultimately chooses to continue reading, writing: 'I know the difference between a flawed character and a flawed story.' 'I'm enjoying the novel on its own terms, not as a classic but as a good story; that is, until Winston reveals himself to be a problematic character,' she writes. 'For example, we learn of him: 'He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones.' Whoa, wait a minute, Orwell.' That framing was enough to provoke sharp critique from novelist and essayist Walter Kirn on the podcast America This Week, co-hosted with journalist Matt Taibbi. Kirn characterized the foreword as a kind of ideological overreach. 'Thank you for your trigger warning for 1984,' he said. 'It is the most 1984ish thing I've ever f***ing read.' Later in the episode, which debuted on June 1, Kirn blasted what he saw as an imposed 'permission structure' by publishers and academic elites. 'It's a sort of Ministry of Truthism,' he said, referring to the Ministry of Truth that features prominently in the dystopian novel. 'They're giving you a little guidebook to say, 'Here's how you're supposed to feel when you read this.'' Conservative commentator such as Ed Morrissey described the foreword as part of 'an attempt to rob [Orwell's work] of meaning by denigrating it as 'problematic.'' Morrissey argued that trigger warnings on literary classics serve to 'distract readers at the start from its purpose with red herrings over issues of taste.' But not all responses aligned with that view. Academic rebuttal Peter Brian Rose-Barry, a philosophy professor at Saginaw Valley State University and author of George Orwell: The Ethics of Equality, disputed the entire premise. 'There just isn't [a trigger warning],' he told Newsweek in an email after examining the edition. 'She never accuses Orwell of thoughtcrime. She never calls for censorship or cancelling Orwell.' In Rose-Barry's view, the foreword is neither invasive nor ideological, but reflective. 'Perkins-Valdez suggests in her introduction that 'love and artistic beauty can act as healing forces in a totalitarian state,'' he noted. 'Now, I find that deeply suspect... but I'd use this introduction to generate a discussion in my class.' Taibbi and Kirn, by contrast, took issue with that exact line during the podcast. 'Love heals? In 1984?' Taibbi asked. 'The whole thing ends with Winston broken, saying he loves Big Brother,' the symbol of the totalitarian state at the heart of the book. Kirn laughed and added, 'It's the kind of revisionist uplift you get from a book club discussion after someone just watched The Handmaid's Tale.' Perkins-Valdez, a Black writer, Harvard graduate and professor of literature at American University, also noted the novel's lack of racial representation: 'That sliver of connection can be difficult for someone like me to find in a novel that does not speak much to race and ethnicity at all.' Kirn responded to that sentiment on the show by pointing out that Orwell was writing about midcentury Britain: 'When Orwell wrote the book, Black people made up maybe one percent of the population. It's like expecting white characters in every Nigerian novel.' Richard Keeble, former chair of the Orwell Society, argued that critiques of Orwell's treatment of race and gender have long been part of academic discourse. 'Questioning Orwell's representation of Blacks in 1984 can usefully lead us to consider the evolution of his ideas on race generally,' he told Newsweek. 'Yet Orwell struggled throughout his life, and not with complete success, to exorcise what Edward Said called 'Orientalism.'' Keeble added, 'Trigger warnings and interpretative forewords... join the rich firmament of Orwellian scholarship-being themselves open to critique and analysis.' Cultural overreach While critics like Kirn view Perkins-Valdez's new foreword as a symptom of virtue signaling run amok, others see it as part of a long-standing literary dialogue. Laura Beers, a historian at American University and author of Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century, acknowledged that such reactions reflect deeper political divides. But she defended the legitimacy of approaching Orwell through modern ethical and social lenses. 'What makes 1984 such a great novel is that it was written to transcend a specific historical context,' she told Newsweek. 'Although it has frequently been appropriated by the right as a critique of 'socialism,' it was never meant to be solely a critique of Stalin's Russia.' 'Rather,' she added, 'it was a commentary on how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the risk to all societies, including democracies like Britain and the United States, of the unchecked concentration of power.' Beers also addressed the role of interpretive material in shaping the reading experience. 'Obviously, yes, in that 'interpretive forewords' give a reader an initial context in which to situate the texts that they are reading,' she said. 'That said, such forewords are more often a reflection on the attitudes and biases of their own time.' While the foreword has prompted the familiar battle lines playing out across the Trump-era culture wars, Beers sees the conversation itself as in keeping with Orwell's legacy. 'By attempting to place Orwell's work in conversation with changing values and historical understandings in the decades since he was writing,' she said, 'scholars like Perkins-Valdez are exercising the very freedom to express uncomfortable and difficult opinions that Orwell explicitly championed.' Related Articles Gabbard Links 'Ministry of Truth' to Obama Speech, Calls Biden 'Front Man'Tulsi Gabbard Compares Biden Admin to Dictatorship Over 'Ministry of Truth'Joe Biden's Disinformation Board Likened to Orwell's 'Ministry of Truth'Memory Holes, Mobs and Speaker Pelosi | Opinion 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Dominion Post
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
LSU routs WVU 16-9 in Game 1 of super regional
BATON ROUGE, La. — Even on a day with a heat index of 103 degrees, it snowballed quickly for the 24th-ranked West Virginia baseball team. The Mountaineers led 1-0 in the fourth inning of Game 1 of the Baton Rouge Super Regional, but seven runs in the span of as many batters turned the series opener into a 16-9 LSU rout. BOX SCORE LSU (47-15) scored three runs in the fourth and seven in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead in the series, forcing WVU (44-15) to win the next two days if it is to reach its first College World Series in program history. 'We played competitive baseball,' WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. 'The game slipped away from us out of the bullpen. We asked a lot of guys to compete at a high level, quite a few kids that hadn't been in a scenario like that before.' WVU starter Griffin Kirn battled through the first three innings and even had a 1-0 lead thanks to Jace Rinehart's second inning RBI single, but the warning signs were there. Kirn hit a batter and fell behind 3-0 in another count in the second, walked the lead-off man in the third and hit two of the first three batters in the fourth. Finally, the bill came due for his command issues. LSU freshman Derek Curiel served a three-run homer out to left field, igniting the 12,093 strong home crowd and starting West Virginia's rapid unraveling. 'I didn't think Kirn was quite as sharp,' Sabins said. 'And it probably had something to do with the fact that he threw twice in a week for the first time all season last weekend. He started game one of the regional and closed out the regional, and then obviously the conditions today being so hot, so humid, a little bit shorter rest for him, he wasn't quite as crisp.' Kirn made it through the fourth inning without further damage, but allowed a lead-off single in the fifth. The single came around to score, and a combination of three relievers — JJ Glasscock, Cole Fehrman and Tyler Hutson — allowed six more runs in the inning as the Tigers put the game out of reach. Back-to-back walks set the table for shortstop Steven Milam, who shot a grand slam out to right field. 'We have a really good team,' Sabins said. 'It takes our depth and it takes everybody if we're going to win at the highest levels. We didn't think that he [Kirn] was the best option there.' Milam's slam was actually the first of two on the day for the Tigers. One inning later, another procession of walks teed up Josh Pearson for a grand slam of his own with all three runners in front of him reaching on free passes. West Virginia pitchers issued a season-high tying 13 free bases between eight walks and five hit batters, and LSU scored 10 of them in. All of it laid waste to the only real positive of the day for the Mountaineers, a strong offensive outing against Kade Anderson. The Mountaineers pounded out seven runs on nine hits against the likely top-10 overall pick in next month's MLB Draft, Anderson's career-high allowed in both departments. Skylar King and Chase Swain provided the biggest blows of a four-run sixth inning, and Gavin Kelly hit West Virginia's first home run of the game, a two-run shot in the seventh. Kyle West added a towering two-run homer of his own off LSU reliever William Schmidt in the ninth, giving the Mountaineers their third consecutive game with at least nine runs. 'Working a pitch count is one thing,' designated hitter Sam White said about the approach against Anderson. 'But if he gives you something to hit you're not trying to foul it off, you're trying to hit it.' The score looked a little closer at the end, but the reality of the day was one of the nation's most talented teams overwhelmed West Virginia. The only positive for the Mountaineers is unlike a regional where a loss in game one requires you to win four straight elimination games to survive, this is a standard three-game series. West Virginia had two series this season, BYU and Texas Tech, where it lost game one and responded to win the next two. This challenge will be much greater, but the mentality is the same. 'They could have beat us 40-0 and tomorrow it's going to be 0-0 at one pitch,' White said. 'There's nothing to it. It's a series.' Game 2 of the series is set for 6 p.m. Sunday. Neither side confirmed a starting pitcher, but it will almost certainly be West Virginia's Jack Kartsonas to the mound for the against LSU's Anthony Eyanson. — Story by Alan Cole
USA Today
06-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Baton Rouge Super Regional Preview: Schedule, analysis, prediction for LSU vs. WVU
Baton Rouge Super Regional Preview: Schedule, analysis, prediction for LSU vs. WVU LSU baseball is two wins away from a return to Omaha and the College World Series. On Saturday, the Tigers will being a best-of-three series vs. West Virginia in the Baton Rouge Super Regional. For LSU, it's the Tigers' 17th super regional appearance since the current format was adopted in 1999. It's the 12th super regional being hosted in Alex Box Stadium. The Box has been kind to LSU in the postseason. The Tigers are 9-3 in Baton Rouge Super Regionals. And even when it looks like hope is lost, Baton Rouge has a way of figuring things out. LSU's last super regional appearance came in 2023, when the Tigers swept Kentucky in two games. Led by Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, that team went on to win the national championship. The last time LSU dropped a super regional in Baton Rouge was 2019, when Florida State got the best of Paul Mainieri's squad. Here's a complete preview of LSU baseball's Baton Rouge Super Regional vs. West Virginia. LSU baseball vs. West Virginia Mountaineers Super Regional: Time and TV schedule GAME 1: Saturday, 1:00 PM CT, ESPN GAME 2: Sunday, 5:00 PM CT, ESPN2 If a Game 3 is necessary, time and TV information will be released this weekend. Elite starting pitching could be the story of the weekend Both LSU and West Virginia are built around elite starting pitching. Both squads have two pitchers at the top of the rotation who could be considered ace's 1A and 1B. For LSU, Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson. For West Virginia, its Griffin Kirn and Jack Kartsonas. Anderson and Eyanson are coming off dominant performances in the Baton Rouge Regional and are two of the best strikeout getters in college baseball. In their regional starts, they combined for 14.2 shutout innings. Then Eyanson was called upon again to get the final outs as a reliever in the final. We know what we're getting with these, too. Anderson has a chance to be a top-five draft pick in this year's MLB Draft, while Eyanson is making a strong case to be a first-round pick too. On the other side, Kirn is a tall lefty who can challenge LSU with a three-pitch mix. His fastball sits low 90s, but it has some cut. His wide release makes him tough on lefties. Kirn has a 3.13 ERA in 95 innings this year. Kartsonas, with his 2.94 ERA, might even be better than Kirn. He's pitched fewer innings with 64.1 on the year, but Kartsonas' strikeout rate was one of the best in the Big 12. Who has the lineup to equalize the starting pitching? Both LSU and West Virginia enter the series with some questions about the lineup. Both squads finished their respective regionals with double-digit runs, but that doesn't tell the full story. LSU struggled to score on Sunday night vs. Little Rock when the power disappeared. That's been a problem for LSU at multiple points in 2025. When LSU isn't driving the ball, the Tigers have failed to produce runs vs. quality pitching. And LSU will see quality pitching this week. Jay Johnson altered the lineup in the regional final, and it paid off with Ethan Frey in the No. 2 slot. The struggling Jared Jones was moved down to No. 6, and he rewarded Johnson with a two-hit night, including a home run to put the game on ice. That's the Jones LSU needs to show up this weekend. With a lefty getting the start for WVU in Game 1, we could see Johnson make adjustments again. Some of the same questions can be asked about West Virginia. The Mountaineers rank No. 3 in the Big 12 with a .299 batting average, but ranked 11th in slugging and home runs. Just one Mountaineer has double-digit homers in 2025. This isn't a lineup that does damage with the home run. That should work in LSU's favor. Anderson and Eyanson have been susceptible to homers, but it's not easy to string hits together vs. the Tigers' aces. WVU doesn't strike out much, which means the ball will be put in play. But more good news for LSU: The Tigers' defense is good at converting balls in play to outs. LSU's lineup has the advantage With all of that in mind, I feel better about the LSU bats this weekend. Yes, there have been times when LSU has gone silent at the plate, but this is still a top 25 lineup. Meanwhile, West Virginia ranks outside the top 90 in key categories. LSU needs a pitcher to step up LSU is set with Anderson and Eyanson, but there are questions elsewhere on the pitching staff. Last week, Jay Johnson handed the ball to Jaden Noot on Sunday, and Noot couldn't make it out of the second inning. The same thing happened when Johnson gave Zac Cowan a start on Monday. Casan Evans entered in relief of Cowan and was dynamite for six innings. It's clear Evans is the third-best pitcher on this staff right now, but LSU will need more than three pitchers to get it done this weekend. Yes, there's a scenario where Anderson throws a complete game and then Eyanson and Evans combine to shut down the Mountaineers on Sunday, but you can't count on that. Whether it's Noot, Cowan, or Chase Shores, LSU needs another arm it can rely on. Cowan was one of the nation's top relievers before his recent struggles. If he can get back to the Cowan we saw in April, LSU is set. Even if LSU makes it through the super regional without finding another pitcher it can trust, LSU will need guys to step up in Omaha. You can't win a College World Series with just three pitchers. What does West Virginia's pitching depth look like? WVU's top reliever is Reese Bassinger. After Kirn pitched 7.1 strong innings in the regional opener vs. Kentucky, Bassinger entered to shut it down. Bassinger is far from unhittable, though. He's posted a 4.28 ERA in 61 innings this year and doesn't have the strikeout stuff you'd expect from a closer. Expect to see Chase Meyer in a high-leverage spot at some point. He owns a 4.09 ERA but has struck out 62 in just 44 innings. What the Massey Ratings say The Massey Ratings rank every team in the country based on scores and strength of schedule. Here's how LSU and WVU matchup: Stat LSU WVU Overall Rating Ranking 5th 15th Offense Ranking 16th 29th Defense/Pitching Ranking 3rd 30th Strength of schedule 62nd 79th LSU vs. West Virginia Betting Odds Here are the Baton Rouge Super Regional betting odds, courtesy of BetMGM. LSU -400, West Virginia +310 That puts LSU's handle-adjusted odds of winning the series at 76.61%. Prediction Its hard to pick against LSU in Baton Rouge, and I'm not going to be the one to do it. I think LSU sweeps West Virginia behind stellar outings from Anderson and Eyanson. I like the Tigers.
Dominion Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 23 WVU headed for Big 12 semifinals after pounding Cincinnati
ARLINGTON, Texas – A former NCAA Division II pitcher lifted the No. 23-ranked WVU baseball team to its best season in 133 years of competition, with what Mountaineers first-year head coach Steve Sabins called 'a heroic performance' on Thursday afternoon at Globe Life Field. 'Griffin Kirn was ridiculous — he threw 129 pitches – each of them with conviction and grit,' Sabins said after the top-seeded Mountaineers' 10-3 win over No. 8 seed Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. 'He's a horse. He looked like he could have thrown 150 pitches today.' Kirn (5-2) threw his first complete game of the season, allowing three runs on eight hits, while striking out nine Bearcats and walking one in his first complete game of the season. Kirn has 95 strikeouts and will have a chance to reach the 100-strikeout mark in the NCAA tournament next weekend. 'I felt like I just got better as the game went on – I wanted the ball,' said Kirn, who spent the past four years pitching for Quincy University in his hometown of Quincy, Illinois. The Mountaineers will face No. 4 seed Arizona (37-18) – a 4-1 winner over BYU on Thursday – in the Big 12 semifinals at 5 p.m. today. The Wildcats defeated the Mountaineers in two out of three games, March 21-23, in Morgantown. The opening game of that series was a 6-4 Arizona victory in 16 innings. WVU pitcher Griffin Kirn pitched a complete game and finished with nine strikeouts in the Mountaineers' 10-3 win against Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament. (Photo by Michael Sudhalter) WVU improved to 41-13 on the season, setting a new program record for wins in a season. The Mountaineers previously reached the 40-win mark in 2023 and 1994, respectively. 'The record means a lot,' Sabins said. 'I've been with the program for 10 years, and a lot of people have worked hard for a really long time. West Virginia only has 1.8 million people. We have to recruit tough kids, develop and get them better. Every day we go to work for our state, university and community.' WVU has a chance to win a conference tournament for the first time since it won the 1996 Big East tournament in the first season of the Greg Van Zant era. It took an explosive fourth inning for the Mountaineers to erupt for five runs and thus, change the trajectory of the season after WVU lost six of their past seven games. 'We just hadn't had quality at bats the past two weeks,' Sabins said. Sabins also led the Mountaineers to their first Big 12 tournament victory at Globe Life Field after entering the game at 0-6. Sabins is a native Texan who played a year of junior college baseball in the state. All of this happened after WVU stumbled into the conference tournament with six losses in its past seven games. WVU had only scored in double figures one other time since April 26. WVU improved to 4-0 on the season against Cincinnati (32-23). The Mountaineers trailed 1-0 in the first inning, but senior left fielder Kyle West belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth that broke up a no hitter at the Texas Rangers' stadium. It was West's 10th home run of the season. 'It was a weight lifted off of our shoulders,' West said. 'As a team, we set the tone. We're a relentless offense.' Sophomore third baseman Spencer Barnett hit an RBI single after Bearcats pitcher Adam Buczowski loaded the bases. Senior first baseman Grant Hussey (2 for 3, with an RBI) connected on a liner that hit Buczowski, who left the game with an injury. A run scored on the play. 'The at-bats got grittier and gritter as the game went on,' Sabins said. Senior shortstop Brodie Kresser's sacrifice fly extended the lead to 4-1, and West picked up his second RBI of the game on a bases-loaded walk. The Mountaineers added some insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Junior designated hitter Sam White scored Kresser and Hussey in the bottom of the sixth. Kresser hit a sacrifice fly, followed by junior center fielder Skylar King's fielder's choice for a 10-3 advantage. Kresser finished the game with three RBIs. Freshman second baseman Gavin Kelly went 2 for 4 with three runs scored. 'He's one of the best freshmen in the country,' Sabins said.
Dominion Post
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Logan Sauve, Griffin Kirn named all-Big 12 first teamers
MORGANTOWN — Logan Sauve and Griffin Kirn led a pack of nine WVU baseball players who were selected to the all-Big 12 team Monday, as voted by the league's coaches. Cincinnati's Kerrington Cross was named the Big 12 Player of the Year after batting .414 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs. Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald was named the league's coach of the year after guiding the Jayhawks to the most wins in program history, as KU finished 42-14 overall. Out of the 42 wins, the 20 road wins and 20 Big 12 wins both set program records. Houston's Antoine Jean was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after recording the lowest opponent batting average (.162) in the Big 12, as he held batters to 36 hits in 222 at-bats in 20 appearances. He's the first reliever to be selected as the league's top pitcher. Arizona State's Matt King and Oklahoma State's Harrison Bodendorf shared co-newcomer of the year honors, while TCU's Sawyer Strosnider earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Sauve was named to the first team as a catcher and Kirn was named to the first team as a pitcher. It is the fourth straight season that the Mountaineers have had multiple selections on the first team. Sauve's selection to the first team is his second all-Big 12 honor, after being named an honorable mention selection as a freshman in 2023. This season, he's played in 47 games and is hitting .287 with seven home runs, six of which came against Big 12 opponents, and 33 RBIs. Kirn, who came to WVU this season as a transfer from the Division II level, finished 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA and a team-high 83 strikeouts in 77.2 innings pitched across 14 starts. Among qualified pitchers, he had the fifth-lowest ERA and the sixth-most strikeouts in the Big 12. Kirn has three double-digit strikeout games this season, including a season-high 14 against Utah. WVU, which won the Big 12 this season for the second time in program history, also placed outfielder Kyle West and pitcher Jack Kartsonas on the all-Big 12 second team, while pitchers Reese Bassinger and Chase Meyer, as well as outfielder Jace Rinehart and utility man Sam White were named honorable mention. WVU second baseman Gavin Kelly was named to the all-Freshman team. West led the Mountaineers with a .352 batting average, nine home runs, a .616 slugging percentage and a .493 on-base percentage. Against Big 12 opponents, West has been even better with a .381 batting average and six home runs. It is his second all-Big 12 selection after being an honorable mention last season. Kartsonas led all Big 12 qualified pitchers with a 2.29 ERA in 55.0 innings this season. He made 17 appearances on the mound with six starts, all of which came in conference play. He is 6-2 on the season and has 63 strikeouts against just 13 walks. Kartsonas went 5-1 against Big 12 opponents and held hitters to a .226 batting average. Kelly played in 44 games and made 38 starts at multiple positions, including catcher, second base, and the outfield. He hit .304 with a home run, 32 RBI, and 30 runs scored while stealing 14 bases. He is the first WVU player to be named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team since J.J. Wetherholt and Chris Sleeper in 2022.
