I purchased a painting by the late artist, Ed Dlugopolski, who lived in Batavia. I did not know Ed. I am sure that I would have enjoyed his company. Ed was an art educator. He taught high school. The acrylic painting is called, The Innocent Victims of War. Ed’s painting cannot be labeled as…
At Barnes & Noble a group of us talked and listened for almost two hours. The topic igniting the discussion: fervent desires when acted upon, change the course of the future in expected and unexpected ways. One member at the table observed that every living thing is involved with adapting to an environment, therefore…
“What do I matter?”is written over the doorof the thinker of the future. The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by J. M. Kennedy, aphorism 547 Of course each of us that lives believes – that “I” am here as an undercover Messiah. One way or another I (and you) desire to be…
The very idea of a market, or better, of markets places/techniques of exchange, for the purpose of trading on human misery – is obscene. The video appeals for donations to alleviate the suffering of children in foreign lands reach crescendo during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In January over the dinner evening news…
A few minutes ago a friend mentioned in passing that he intends to be absent from Starbucks for a few days. He plans to be on a cruise in the Caribbean, out of the country, anticipating the inauguration of the Trump administration on January 20th. Coincidentally I happened to be reading this text at…
Over the past several day’s I have read and contributed to an email discussion on the topic of greed. There’s no secret that greed, becomes manifest as an approved American virtue. The 1 percent, the uber wealthy are celebrated, feted in print media, regarded as exemplars of an ideal to be emulated. Indeed perhaps…
What we have at present in our country is a ‘dialog of the deaf’. A group of eight to ten friends recently considered the failure of communication between Americans. I mean between those who believe a bygone way-of-life, paternalist, authority based, moral principles as reasonable, the only option for creating a future – and…
It is snowing outside. It is the first snow of the season to significantly cover everything, and the snowplows are out. Snow covered asphalt reacquaints us with the laws of physics. With a warming climate, winter snow, as it happens, comes later, and less of it. I can remember the blinding snowstorms of many…
The wildfires now surround Los Angles are uncontained. This from the update received several hours ago from the New York Times: Los Angeles is surrounded by fire. The city’s major wildfires have spread, and a new one started overnight in Hollywood Hills. It threatened a wealthy neighborhood and landmarks synonymous with America’s self-image —…
Evil was visible, opaque, localized… We have exorcised it, liberated it, liquidated it. But has it, for all that, ceased to be Evil? Not at all: it has become fluid, liquid, interstitial, viral. That is the transparence of Evil. It is not a transparency in the sense that you might see through it. It…
