Category Archives: Essays

France Is on Fire

By Harrison Stetler – opinion in the NYT Mr. Stetler is a journalist who writes about French politics and culture. Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter  Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the … Continue reading

Posted in Essays, Government, Guns, Law, Race | 1 Comment

Juneteenth

by Heather Cox Richardson Tomorrow is the federal holiday honoring Juneteenth, the celebration of the announcement in Texas on June 19th, 1865, that enslaved Americans were free.  On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern … Continue reading

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Meditation and resilience – The Hidden Brain

Hidden Brain Media is an independent production company that aims to help curious people understand the world, and themselves. Our host and Executive Editor Shankar Vedantam has been reporting on human behavior and social science research for more than 25 … Continue reading

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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

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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

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Thoughts on Mother’s Day

by Heather Cox Richardson – (Thanks to Pam P.)

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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

Posted in Advocacy, Education, Essays, History | 1 Comment

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

Posted in Essays, History, Justice, Law, Religion, Social justice | 1 Comment

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

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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

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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

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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

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The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Notes from Heather Cox Richardson (thanks to Pam P.)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The future of Social Security – in perspective

by Heather Cox Richardson

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