Posts Tagged ‘Slavery’
OLD GLORY WAIVES THE FIFTH
Hey, it’s me, Old Glory aka the Stars & Stripes. With July Fourth coming, I’ve got three important things to say. First: I’m proud that the nation will celebrate its 247th birthday. Many countries have been around longer. Real democracies? We took the first plunge. Second: That said, I could dodge America’s problems, take the…
Read MoreDEMOCRACY’S NOT DEAD YET
Several nights ago, I heard a symphony of foghorns. I live two miles from the Pacific and half that distance from San Francisco’s Baker Beach and the Golden Gate. Yet extended periods of time often pass between my visits to the beach to admire the ocean’s size, energy and mystery. So it is with much…
Read MoreLOUISIANA
Most Californians think about Louisiana—New Orleans aside—as God, guns and gumbo. Carolyn and I spent Thanksgiving week in Baton Rouge with our son Seth, a graduate student at Louisiana State. The visit demonstrated that there’s more. Our hotel room overlooked the Mississippi River. We were thrilled. Here flows one of the hearts of America—a highway…
Read MoreCHARLOTTESVILLE
You know the old saying, “There are two sides to every story.” Donald Trump repeated that last Tuesday. Regrettably, such clichéd adages lend themselves to ignoring horrible injustices. Last weekend, white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the city’s proposed removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Some carried Nazi flags…
Read MoreTHE 4TH AND ISAAC NEWTON
Yesterday, July 4th, brought to mind Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This thought emanated from reasons historical, personal and contemporary. On July 4, 1776—or close to that date depending on which historian you read—the American Colonies reacted in equal and opposite measure to…
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