Anything written by Nietzsche is approached with apprehension. By reputation Friedrich Nietzsche is a “bomb thrower,” a nihilist who is responsible for the death of God. On a ‘reputation scale’ from high to low, that would be on the low side. Unaccountably in my late 20s I read Nietzsche’s writing with an open mind, overcoming…
Yesterday with a strong grip upon duty, tedious but necessary, I began moving the 2020 photo files from the flash memory chip in my camera to appropriately labeled folders in my laptop. The work entails several hours of peering at this laptop screen. Photo organization is important if there is to be a…
Winter is a season for contemplation. Time spent before a fireplace, is time well spent. Single digit cold bewitches the mind, compelling a still spirit. Focus is demanded by the elements of a near zero day. A footfall is announced by a sharp note of compacted ice, exposed skin serrated by a chill wind….
Today I awakened before dawn intent on walking into nearby Almond Marsh before sunrise. I enjoy taking a walk with camera in hand. Predictably the camera is an aid to careful observation. A camera is a mechanical device that records only what the lens captures, without the distractions of a human mind. Are we…
I want to do things that I did when I was sixteen. I would spend hours walking in the woods, in any season. I carried a Mars Chocolate Bar in one pocket, my hunting knife on my belt, my 22 rifle in my hand, and a box of 50 shells in the other pocket. …
The day begins in darkness. That is not new. What is new is the effort of the President of the United States to overthrow the result of the election. The days ahead will be critical. And what of the seventy two million who offered him their votes, who believe the Presidents version of “reality?” …
I did not remain awake til midnight for the departure of the old year to celebrate the new. Just before turning in I glimpsed television images of the Times Square “celebration” in New York. The scene was outlandish, devoid of crowds, just the TV personalities outfitted as if attending a monster’s ball. The rhetoric…
I have mixed thoughts about Christmas. Given that the story of Christmas happens to be about a working class couple, without adequate shelter, with responsibility to care for a new born child, — as long as my home is a “Christian” country that girdles the world with military bases, and has a military budget…
We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. The saying is not original to me. It’s something I read and never forgot. Another argument for reading widely. Reading can save one’s life. Too often I find myself in a ditch, having painted all that I perceive with the color of…
People talk about melting pots,America’s a melting pot, South Africa’s a melting pot,melting pot, melting pot…What you forget is that what’s making the things in the pot meltis the fire….. There are no diverse places in the worldwhere people just came there for good times. — excerpt, interview with Trevor NoahTrevor Noah Is Still…
