Earplugs Removed
I turned off the air-conditioner and opened the windows letting in the air and sounds from outside. The day grew warmer and the house grew hotter, until at nigh...
I turned off the air-conditioner and opened the windows letting in the air and sounds from outside. The day grew warmer and the house grew hotter, until at nigh...
Across the street from where No. 1 Daughter lives, two dogs sat in a closed car. They barked at her when she left for work. They barked at her when she came hom...
My youngest (12) asked, out of the blue, why do some people want a monarchy when they can’t be the king? I’m not sure. Maybe we should ask the British. I ...
Here is a sad and hopeful story of the church forests of Ethiopia. The land outside the church forest looks like desolation to me. So stark. Where’s the g...
The first was that I was very busy.The second — I was different from you: whatever happened to you could not happen to me, not like that.…. “Magdalene — T...
Tonight’s film was Romero (1989). Earlier this year my eldest and I were talking about a paper due for her international politics class on the Middle East, the ...
Over time I have lived on the lands of Lenape, Mohican, Wappinger, Manahoac, Piscataway, Powhatan, Monacan, Osage, Shawnee, Miami, Adena, Hopewell, and the Chic...
I have been joining in the morning and evening prayers from the garden of Canterbury Cathedral these past several months. Because this is the Internet, and we a...
My mother admonished me to think before I speak, and now sometimes I do. Sometimes I even think before I write, and take a breath, which was good advice I was g...
Every budget is a document of priorities filled with moral and ethical decisions. Every budget is the result of political wrangling over who and what matters. W...
What are our guiding precepts? By which lamp do we light our way? Langston Hughes asked a simple question in 1951. What happens to a dream deferred? Langston Hu...
Heather C. McGhee notes (as heard on the radio) that racism has a cost for everyone. Let me tell two stories from my time in local government. One involves an e...
The execution of Jesus Christ was political murder by the klepto class, done with the force of the state, because he demanded lovingkindness, justice, mercy, an...
I really don’t understand electoral politics, especially the selection of candidates for office and how they are chosen. It’s not the procedure that I don’t und...
WoodpeckerBright yellow forsythiaSparrow, chickadeeA drop from the gutterAnd this bug that alights on my book,just as I begin to readThe sun warm on my thighs
This is the worst game of six degrees of separation ever. Number One Daughter had class with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 virus. She has yet to he...
Here’s a purely hypothetical question for you. Let’s suppose you have a certain number of hospital beds and a certain number of ventilators and a ce...
Our public library has closed indefinitely, and though I will need to return the large stack of books 📚 I borrowed last month at some point, I do not think I wi...
Two cats live with me. One, Lily, is 15; she has been with us since she was weaned, adopted with her brother when my daughters were four and two. Her brother pa...
I hope there will be a great coming together of society, as people from all walks of life realize that we are all in this together. We leave the world a better ...