The Women’s March of protest and hope in Chicago provided much material for reflection. Participation is a catalysis for personal change. I know I am not the same person I was one week ago. I am changed in ways that will be recognizable as my future unfolds. Everything is connected. We separate aspects of…
There was no way this well could be so deep. —excerpt The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami I will offer my thoughts on the Women’s March of 2018. We are into the 2nd year of the Trump Administration. This is the second Women’s March. The march of 2017 came the day after his…
A prominent feature of a mass demonstration are the signs. Most are conceived, constructed, and hand-lettered/drawn by individuals. The signs are an enduring appeal to anyone who is within viewing distance. Signs are a persistent assertion of the objectives of the individuals who are compelled to raise their voices in the public square and…
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America….. Yesterday I…
A group of us discussed Aristotle’s writing on excellence; the meaning and the process of creating an excellent/virtuous human being. Aristotle asserts a mode of human existence that involves excellence of character, and excellence of action. It is possible to make something of one’s self, to use the current manner of speaking. The short…
They are trying again, trying to avoid a partial government shutdown by Friday and trying to prevent 700,000 non-citizen Americans, resident here since infancy, from being exiled to some strange country where they neither speak the language nor have means for survival. They are trying to refund the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The well…
The pervert claims direct access to some figure of the big Other (from God or history to the desire of his partner), so that, dispelling all the ambiguity of language, he is able to act directly as the instrument of the Other’s will. In this sense, both Osama bin Laden and President Bush, although…
The controversy rolls on in reference to the President’s profane characterization of the inhabitants of Haiti and of the African nations. Today when questioned the Secretary of DHS Kristen Nielsen said that she did not hear the vulgar language that others heard the President say. She was in the room. All she heard was…
It is snowing outside. The streets are hazardous for travel. Hawaii is recovering from a false alarm of a ballistic missile attack. Our President is tweeting madly to deflect the response to his comments characterizing Africa and Haiti as “shit-hole” countries. Individuals who happened to be in proximity to him when he made the…
I’ve been looking at the box of books on my “to read” list. I buy books, one or even two or three at a time. One book leads to another and another. This has been the story of my life for many years. I have subjects of interest that I’ve revisited over and over,…
