Photography has been an interest for many years. In high school I began taking my fathers Kodak box camera to the drag strip. Imagine using a camera with a 1/30th second shutter speed and 100 ASA film to record the accelerating launch of a dragster. My first lesson: a photograph depends essentially upon the…
A friend sent me a link to an article by Ed Yong, staff writer at The Atlantic. The article by a science writer was an overview of America’s response to the pandemic; America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral. The article was nine pages of emotionally difficult reading. I felt a sense of terror,…
The New York Times Magazine dedicated an entire issue to a photo exploration of hunger in America. As you would assume the victims are predominately Black, Hispanic, women and children. The photographs taken by Brenda Ann Kenneally in the course of a three month journey from Oneida, New York to San Diego, California moved…
Monday, a week before Labor Day. It’s early, and all is quiet outside. Traffic is minimal. The atmosphere is like a relative silence before an anticipated storm breaks with fury and unforeseeable destruction. There has been civil unrest in Portland, Oregon and Kenosha, Wisconsin. In those places members of Trump-world, armed, and intent on…
We met again, a circle of lawn chairs in the setting sun, and then in the cool of early evening to discuss Reciprocal Altruism as a behavior germane to evolutionary development among living creatures. The author of the essay which formed the basis of our discussion, cited the symbiotic relationship between cleaner fish removing…
For a Monday, why not take a break from the political chatter, from the reports of extensive wild fire damage in California, from reports of twin hurricanes that threaten Texas and Louisiana, and from the propaganda storm about to envelop us? The last is a reference to the Republican Party MAGA convention. Yesterday in…
Summer is waning. In our child-like fantasy, we’d like endless summer. Deceiving ourselves, we forget that in time we’d be satiated with the beauty, the days of amusement and play. Boredom would overtake us soon enough. I entertained these thoughts yesterday while enjoying a “just right” lunch on the patio of the Makray Memorial…
Summer passes. Yesterday Kamala Harris was introduced as Joe Biden’s VP running mate. Already she is a lightning rod for name calling, character assassination. A QAnon candidate from Georgia prevailed in the primary and is certain to be elected to represent that district in the House of Representatives. I feel dismay on the one…
Not too long ago, I was introduced to a candidate who is running for the Illinois Senate. I took a piece of campaign literature which I kept. I’ve examined the message and the layout of the piece at some length. The banner tagline is three words that sum up this candidates programme. Stimulated to…
This is one of those most sad songs, MacArthur Park. And everyone loved to hear it, to sing it in 1967. How can one not take Buddhism seriously? The impermanence of all things, life as suffering, etc. Everything passes, becomes unhinged, fails it’s intended function, etc. Acceptance of such an assessment of our condition…
