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Category Archives: Essays
Inside the Complicated Reality of Being America’s Oldest President
Inside the Complicated Reality of Being America’s Oldest President By Peter Baker, Michael D. Shear, Katie Rogers and Zolan Kanno-Youngs in the NYT There was the time last winter when President Biden was awakened at 3 a.m. while on a trip to Asia and told … Continue reading
Posted in Aging Sites, Essays, Government, Politics
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By David Brewster in Post Alley/Seattle A disturbing, Seattle-relevant story in the New York Times traces the exodus of highly educated employees from “superstar cities.” Seattle and other expensive coastal cities are definitely on the list, and the story notes the loss of magnetism … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Business, Crime, environment, Essays, Government, In the Neighborhood, Parks
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Thoughts on Mother’s Day
by Heather Cox Richardson – (Thanks to Pam P.)
Posted in Essays
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In Berkeley, a Library Protest Is a Fight for Anthropology in an A.I. Age
Thanks to Mike C. By Tim Arango May 2, 2023 in the NYT BERKELEY, Calif. — To kick off homecoming weekend last fall, the University of California, Berkeley, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new data sciences building, known as the Gateway. At … Continue reading
Thoughts from Emerson
Ed note: I’ve just ordered the book, Three Roads Back by Robert D. Richardson. Have any of you read it? It’s about how Emerson, Thoreau and William James responded to the greatest losses of their lives. Please comment! “Write it … Continue reading
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DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY RENOUNCED
From Ed Marcuse – April 4, 2023 Last week,3 under history’s first Latin American pontiff, the Vatican development and education offices renounced the Doctrine of Discovery1. This papal doctrine was used to justify colonization in the name of Christianity and came to be part of … Continue reading
London Lonely Girls Club gains thousands of new members
Thanks to Pam P. By Jess Warren – BBC News Almost 20,000 women living in London have joined a club tackling loneliness since pandemic restrictions ended. Holly Cooke founded The London Lonely Girls Club on Facebook in 2018 after moving … Continue reading
Recyclable? Try Refillable. The Quest For a Greener Cleaner
By Susan Shain in the NYT — Thanks to Mike C. Every week, Angela Espinoza Pierson looked at her recycling bin — filled with detergent jugs, shampoo bottles and clamshell containers that once held strawberries — with mixed feelings. Sure, it … Continue reading
Why Do We Change the Clocks, Anyway?
The twice-yearly ritual has roots in cost-cutting strategies of the late 19th century. A bill to make daylight saving time permanent has re-emerged in Congress. By Alan Yuhas in the NYT Hello. You may be here to learn when is daylight … Continue reading
When do the privileged feel like victims? When others seek equality
Thanks to Marilyn W. By Naomi Ishisaka Seattle Times columnist It seems whenever I write about structural power and privilege, people who benefit most from those systems respond that they are now victims of an unfairly stacked deck. A few weeks … Continue reading
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Notes from Heather Cox Richardson (thanks to Pam P.)
Thoughts about heroes
by Heather Cox Richardson You hear sometimes that, now that we know the sordid details of the lives of some of our leading figures, America has no heroes left. When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, … Continue reading
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Shakespeare, lost socks and the laundromat
Being curious about the coming availability of artificial intelligence (AI), I logged in and signed up to use ChatGPT. It’s a forerunner demonstrating some of the possibilities of massive databases that can be put to use – both good and … Continue reading
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Being a woman
For more commentary, please read Erma Bombeck’s book, “Motherhood the Second Oldest Profession.”
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WHY THE PAST 10 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE HAVE BEEN UNIQUELY STUPID
It’s not just a phase.By Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic What would it have been like to live in Babel in the days after its destruction? In the Book of Genesis, we are told that the descendants of Noah built a great … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Government, History
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What Should You Do When the Bear Is Cinnamon?
Scientists have uncovered a genetic mutation that makes it dangerously difficult to distinguish a black bear from a grizzly. By Sam Jones in the NYT Black bears have black fur, right? It’s there in the name. “In the eastern part of … Continue reading
Why Is It So Hard for Men to Make Close Friends?
By Catherine Pearson in the NYT Ed note: I’m wondering just how vulnerable a man needs to be. Here’s one published comment on the article below: “I have different male friends that I DO different activities with. We do not need … Continue reading
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Why are Republicans telling voters they want to cut Social Security by a third?
By Alicia H. Munnell Improving benefits for the low paid is a noble goal, but all but the very wealthy need the benefits in current law. Why in the world would Republicans put out a plan to dramatically cut Social Security? … Continue reading
What GOP candidate recruitment says about the GOP
[Here is my posting on https://medium.com/will-howard-on-trumpian-politics/what-gop-candidate-recruitment-says-about-the-gop-6af4e793ffed.] I aim to raise questions about candidates for higher office who are so inexperienced that, if they won, they might be in constant need of advice from their sponsors, likely to supply an unelected … Continue reading
The Machine Stops by Oliver Sachs
Oliver Sacks, who died in 2015, was the author of many books, including “Musicophilia,” “Gratitude,” and “The River of Consciousness.” A final collection of his essays is titled, “Everything in Its Place,” My favorite aunt, Auntie Len, when she was … Continue reading
Holocaust survivor Francine Christophe shares her story
Thanks to Pam P. In this video interview with Francine Christophe, a Holocaust survivor, you will learn about her experience as an eight-year-old Jewish girl at Bergen-Belsen camp. You’ll be amazed to learn about her selfless act, and the great reward that she … Continue reading
Posted in Caregiving, Essays, History, Mental Health, Social justice, War
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The future of Social Security – in perspective
by Heather Cox Richardson
Posted in Essays, History, Social justice
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Wonder about the impact of your daily cup of coffee on the planet? Here’s the bitter truth
Thanks to Gordon G. Whatever your preference, if you’re reading this story, chances are, drinking coffee is among your daily rituals. Everyday, people drink more than two billion cups worldwide, and experts predict that demand for it could triple by mid-century. Coffee consumption … Continue reading
Posted in environment, Essays, happiness, Health
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Commentary: Prosecute Trump? Merrick Garland is investigating aggressively but prosecuting cautiously
by journalist Doyle McManus The House committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurgency, whose hearings resume this week, has produced impressive evidence that could allow prosecutors to argue that former President Donald Trump committed crimes as he tried to overturn … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Essays, Government
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July 4th by Heather Cox Richardson
And on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that … Continue reading
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