July 23rd, 2019 | General, Politics, Popular Culture, Society at Large
As we approach the second Democratic debate, the herd is just too large. Even this early on. Few of the runners stand out in that cloud of dust. Those watching the race are learning anything meaningful about those stuck in the pack. Those that really don’t stand a...
June 26th, 2019 | General, Politics, Society at Large
Twenty-four? Twenty-five? The special supplement to The New York Times lists twenty-two. And I thought seven candidates was a lot in 1992. The first “debates”—which is to say the first round of televised statements sanctioned by the Democratic National Party—will...
January 23rd, 2019 | Education, General, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Popular Culture, Society at Large
When I saw that video clip of Nick Sandmann smirking at Omaha Elder Nathan Phillips who was drumming and chanting, and realized just how close the two were standing, I was outraged at the boy’s insolence, shocked at the implicit insult of a white person to an...
January 16th, 2019 | General, literature and poetry, Politics, Popular Culture
I had set myself a goal on GoodReads of 50 books in 2018 and got to 34 ½. I also determined that I would post on every book I read in this blog. Well, that’s two resolutions not kept. So here are the titles left out since 4 August 2018 (in the order read): Noah...
September 4th, 2018 | General, Memory, Politics
I remember my mother glued to our old black-and-white television in November 1963 and Kennedy’s funeral procession as it wended its way ultimately to Arlington National Cemetery. I watched some of it—I was eleven—and remember the views of the caisson and the riderless...
May 29th, 2018 | Europe, General, literature and poetry, Memory, music, Politics, Popular Culture, Time Passes, transportation, Travel
According to the introduction, Mary McAuliffe produced “Twilight of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Picasso,Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends through the Great War” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) as a sort of conclusion to...