Tuesday Morning, July 19th, 2016 With all of last night’s horrifying Republican antics it easy to point to the rage and the singular contrast offered by Melania Trump who, despite having been party to fraud and plagiarism, struck the only contrary note of decency. We must be mindful not to shame her for an error…
On this day, the last important day of primaries in this important election year, a brief rumination. Skip if you dislike the prosaic, pedantic, annoying parts that are required. Last night’s preemptive announcement that Secretary Clinton will be the Democrat’s nominee was less conspiracy or collective endorsement meant to forestall or depress turnout than it…
Not a day passes without each of us confronting the problem of evil. We witness human beings in the name of their particular brand of religion commit atrocities and then acts of nearly incomprehensible altruism. Both sorts of behavior are routinely attributed to religious motivations, ideas, and doctrines. To say that those acts for worse…
This afternoon I took two hours off to celebrate my mom. It’s five months to the day since she passed. I’m a mess and I’m sure I will never “get over” this loss. Why should I? What would that mean? I give myself permission to feel everything and every single day I miss her more. …
There is nothing between civility and anarchy but the law. And that is at best a mere gossamer of hope. One can argue that American culture in its most inspirited expression is defined by our willingness to create legal justice. We have a long way to go, no doubt. But without the law, what are…
Here’s just a morning rumination before a long day where I am honored to teach in a room full of friends. We awaken to find that the shadow is real. America with Trump is not unexpected, not only because so many share these ugly feelings but because so few have learned how to address them….
It’s Leap Year Day. I love February 29th. It’s one of my most secretest of wishes. I would have loved to have been born on just about any February 29th. A birthday every four years would work well for me. Plus, I’d only be about 14 now and I’d stick to that number. No sliding…
When Senator Sanders called for a political revolution at the first Democratic Presidential debate you could feel the palpable discomfort on stage. Only Jim Webb addressed the word “revolution” directly, and with a heartfelt disdain and contempt befitting his own incongruity: Webb looked like he was auditioning looking for a Republican debate circa 1974 so…
I’m not presuming to offer advanced lessons in civics here but rather make a few observations about how institutions persist, however we might want them to change. Today was deemed an “important” deadline for Presidential campaign contributions. I received solicitations from both Mrs. Clinton and Senator Sanders. I’m sure those identifying with the word “conservative”…
As we recover from Pope Francis adulation we notice that Rome isn’t burning but basking in a brighter light of self-legitimation claiming relevance for modernity while Republicans procure a new meaning to the word “arson.” Is there a word for burning down your own House? Or the Republic? We’ve heard so much about faith and…