An Open letter to United Airlines, with a Postscript to Southwest: The skies were friendly, the ground – not so much.

July 12, 2015 Dear United: It’s a beautiful day here at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Your white planes, with their gray/green logo-festooned tails look particularly striking against the blue-wash sky and gray tarmac. I’m sitting here at Gate 10, surrounded by what is rapidly becoming a small community of marooned souls, and in that group … Continue reading An Open letter to United Airlines, with a Postscript to Southwest: The skies were friendly, the ground – not so much.

Crispus Attucks, American history and a small serving of Jewish ‘potato/potahto’

Who says you can’t still learn stuff from your high school teachers decades after graduation? On March 1, Bob Barone, who was the theater director and also, I think, occasionally taught English where my sister and I attended high school, posted this update on our Facebook Revolution reunion group page: “This Thursday, March 5, is the … Continue reading Crispus Attucks, American history and a small serving of Jewish ‘potato/potahto’

Pan-African Nationalism basics, plutocratic cookie pigs and Rabbi Hillel

If I ever get pulled over for “fitting the description,” the description will be “garden-variety middle-aged white lady.” It’s been an accurate description for most of my life (with the exception of the age part, which is following the conventional trajectory and means that if I live long enough, I'll be a garden-variety old white … Continue reading Pan-African Nationalism basics, plutocratic cookie pigs and Rabbi Hillel

Dontre Hamilton, Tikkun Olam Pie & why I don’t do demonstrations (with update)

Black man killed by white cop. It’s a scenario we’ve seen way too often this year in US cities. Here in Milwaukee, where I live, that story has a particularly sad and horrible twist. Dontre Hamilton was 31 when he died last April. I never met him, but his situation falls within my slice of Tikkun Olam Pie. … Continue reading Dontre Hamilton, Tikkun Olam Pie & why I don’t do demonstrations (with update)