The house is decorated. Certainly to a dispassionate observer the splendor, the glory of light and color is equal to any years past. Yet it is not Christmas time existentially for me. My spirit is more akin to the sharp edge of the air temperature that sinks toward the single digits, and the cold,…
My last post was on the 7th. I reflected upon the nature of a common sore throat/head cold. Five days later I am able to write again. The illness was uncommon, something that at times I wondered if my now older body would overcome. With illness, there is one winner. The immune system is…
IMAGINING WORLD In my dream, the angel shrugged and said if we fail this time it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand. –by Brian Andreas 1994
How would I know Custer’s words? The battle between the US 7th Cavalry and the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes took place 140 years ago. I was born 140 years late to hear what if anything he might have said, had I been there. Additionally only Indians walked away from that fight alive. …
Twenty four hours ago I was horribly ill. Four or five sessions of throwing up, and then came the fever. At some point the thought occurred to me, –so this is how we die. I did not dwell on the thought. The coming of dawn always makes everything better. I had several emails and…
A few years ago I fed my interest in the American Civil War by a lot of reading, and by visiting a number battlefields. I have more than a shelf of books. I’ve spent time at Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Fort Fisher. In that day the preparation for battle meant forming a “line of battle,”…
Four days after the election, protest of the results continued last night in a number of cities. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, Dallas, Oakland, were included in the CNN report. The photos supported my assumption that the demonstrations were likely to include many in their twenties, young adults seeking adult entree into society. I…
I drove past my local polling place this morning. The parking lot was full. Campaign signs crowded the lawn on both sides of the drive way. Now, at Starbucks customers come in with the conventional hint of a smile on their faces. If they are like me they carry a suppressed sense of foreboding…
Today is the day before the ballots are cast, the vote tallied and the results announced. My cynical self says, “so what.” The one candidate is a life long uber predator, property developer, and pitch man for all manner of dodgy, shell game offers: Trump University, Trump Steaks, apparel, etc. The other candidate offers…
It is perfectly clear that political parties across the spectrum today are unquestioningly committed to maintain the capitalist growth economy, seemingly oblivious to the catastrophe that this out-dated development agenda holds in store for people and the planet – a catastrophe that, in some respects, has already arrived. In short, a universal ‘growth fetish’…
