November 7th, 2020 | General, Politics
November 3, midafternoon Election Day. I have distracted myself with gardening, grocery shopping, a little laundry. We are all anxious, unnerved. I can almost hear the scratch of pens, and the thunk of the machines ingesting ballots, at the polls. Analyses favor the...
February 6th, 2020 | General, Politics, Society at Large
No, Donald Trump. The state of our union is not strong. You have demonized for three years the voters in 2016—a majority of all who turned out–who thought that anyone other than you would be an infinitely better choice. You have lied incessantly and knowingly in...
December 10th, 2019 | General, Politics, Society at Large
The headline for the article by Peter Baker in The New York Times (December 10, 2019) caught my eye: “In a Swelling Age of Tribalism, the Trust of a Country Teeters.” I started reading and came to this: Most Americans tell pollsters that they do not believe what he...
November 9th, 2016 | General, Politics, Popular Culture, social media, Society at Large
When I went to bed, North Carolina had already fallen and I knew the nightmare was about to descend. When I awoke, I watched the numbers on my clock flip toward 6:15 when the radio would click on with the news on WYPR. And it did. And three or four words in, I heard...
May 29th, 2015 | Europe, Genealogy, General, Politics, Popular Culture, Society at Large, Travel
Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, and the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone. Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof. Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation. Everyone has the right...