File yesterday under “Days when you’re glad your mother and aunts are dead.” File yesterday under “This is why I grapple with knowing that I look and benefit from being white but don't ever feel entirely white.” File yesterday under “What part of their part in this do Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Chuck Grassley, Paul … Continue reading Whistle long enough, dogs show up: Best synagogue shooting response? Weep. Mourn. Vote.
Category: Commentary
Two weeks ago Sunday, two carloads of my Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom chapter drove down to Chicago for an afternoon of camaraderie and training in how to engage in thorny discussions. Along with the Wisconsin contingent (Milwaukee and Madison), women came from Illinois (Chicago and beyond) and Iowa (Quad Cities). Our facilitators did a great … Continue reading Together beneath the Abrahamic tree: Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom adventures
I caught a little of the testimonies of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. It was horrifying. The contrast between the two witnesses was stark. Dr. Ford told her story with remarkable composure. She was visibly upset, but did an amazing job describing her reasons for coming … Continue reading #Metoo vs. #Poormetoo: Senate Committee hears from Ford & Kavanaugh
On Wednesday, The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed by someone serving at the pleasure of President Trump. It was not exactly news to read that the current occupant of the White House is a petty bully who does whatever makes him feel good and repudiates anyone who dares to intimate that he is anything less … Continue reading ‘A preference for autocrats and dictators:’ Op-ed writer luckier than Riyadh Ibrahim
Cataract surgery #2 is in the rear-view mirror. I have decided to use the opportunity to don my journalist/ “Enemy of the People” hat and pull back the curtain on how trained reporters go about preparing for and conducting interviews in order to bring readers useful information. Why am I qualified to do this? The … Continue reading ‘Enemy of the People’ reveals building blocks for ‘fake news’ story on cataract surgery
If anyone with a social media presence wants to see their blog stats tank, here’s my advice: Quit Facebook. Even though my blog is my gift to me, a place where I write what I want to in order to loosen myself up to write better and more freely and not about how many … Continue reading ‘Honoring Miss Pietsch’ or how a composer helped me get my house in order, featuring 1886 wallpaper
In 2007, I was on national television and in the New York Times for being one of the first “old” people on Facebook. On April 10th, I posted this on my Facebook feed: “I was going to just leave quietly, but it feels disrespectful to so many of you who I care about. I joined … Continue reading Hitting the ‘delete’ button on Facebook: a Dispatch from the quiet zone
Mom died on February 25th. Her funeral was in Utica, New York; yesterday was her memorial service. This is the eulogy I wrote and read yesterday. Eulogy II The first Tuesday after Mom’s funeral, I woke up and, because it has been part of my waking-up ritual for what seems like forever (even though it … Continue reading Death: the most unlikely of happy endings or ‘Bossiest Eulogy Ever’
“It is coercion of the strongest kind, because it appears in the guise of a self-evident necessity and is thus not even recognized as a coercive force.” Ludwik Fleck, “Genesis & Development of a Scientific Fact” I started 2017 with a post about making this a “no bullshit” year. Seing it out with a … Continue reading ‘No Bullshit’ 2017 is almost over: Time to ring in #racistinrecovery 2018
Al Franken announced his resignation from the Senate Thursday in the wake of a bunch of disclosures from women that he was handy and not in a good way. That was shortly after the Republican party publicly endorsed Roy Moore, the Senate candidate who was reportedly banned from the Gadsen Mall for creeping on (to … Continue reading Shit-pile theory of life explains mysterious difference between Democratic and Republican *sex offenders
the sentence factory 