“Will it Go ‘Round in Circles?”
Okay. I know some will shake your heads and think “Oh God, I hope the title ain‘t a metaphor for this tale.” We‘ll see. The tale is an old one, five–hundred years old, […]
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HOW THINGS LOOK FROM DOWN HERE: One View From Among the Peons, Peasants, Plebeians, and Hoi Polloi
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Sunday,December 1, 2013
Birthright: To Dance
(The recent, re-discovery of thirty-year-old letters from a Nigerian friend has provided an excuse to reprise a piece that’s nearly as old. Some of you will remember it) Birthright: To Dance It was […]
Read essay →Friday,November 1, 2013
WWA
The benefits of civility cannot be overstated. This can be difficult to bear in mind when confronted by those who make being civil seem overrated. One wonders if our current head of Health and […]
Read essay →Tuesday,October 1, 2013
Tattletales
According to one of the oldest tales we tell about ourselves, we know things we are not supposed to know. In a Mesopotamian version of the story, it is the knowledge of good and […]
Read essay →Sunday,September 1, 2013
All in the Family
As far as Alex Shepherd was concerned, all of his sons-in-law were (in his words) “sons of bitches”. So, for his daughters, getting married had to be done surreptitiously. One of them, Maude, my […]
Read essay →Thursday,August 1, 2013
Long Division
Once, on a summer afternoon long ago, a neighbor and I astounded each other. I learned from him that he believed the sun moved around the earth every day, at which point he learned […]
Read essay →Monday,July 1, 2013
Tears for the Right Occasion
At some point in my youth, I attempted to read William Faulkner’s Light in August. I gave up almost immediately. I wasn’t getting it, and was certain I wouldn’t. A decade ago, I tried […]
Read essay →Saturday,June 1, 2013
God of Caprice
Sometimes, what is old and familiar can seem new. Something you’ve heard a thousand times will sound completely alien. This happened to me in recent months when listening to two people explain what they […]
Read essay →Wednesday,May 1, 2013
A Very Bad Hair Day
I don’t know what it’s like in other school districts in other cities, but working in the school system here in the nation’s capital has been a challenge – and it has nothing to do […]
Read essay →Monday,April 1, 2013
“…but I didn’t shoot no deputy.”
I used to enjoy watching a television show about the war on drugs, the war between law enforcement and the drug gangs, and wars fought by the gangs against one another. There was routine maiming […]
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