Author Archives: floegel

The Persistence of Magic

5/31/2012 – 10:36 am

In the midst of George Orwell’s essay, “Notes on Nationalism,” he makes a reference to sympathetic magic: “Nationalist thought often gives the impression of being tinged by belief in sympathetic magic – a belief which probably comes out in the widespread custom of burning political enemies in effigy, or using pictures of them as targets […]

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Just Saying

5/24/2012 – 9:39 pm

I have a book I never finish reading.  (It’s not Finnegan’s Wake; I haven’t even started that one.)  It’s George Orwell’s Essays and as it lands with the thud of 1,363 pages of political, cultural and literary criticism, I feel entitled to a bit of leeway.  I don’t try to plow straight through, but keep […]

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Can I See Some ID?

5/17/2012 – 1:26 pm

I was in Washington a few weeks ago and attended an event at a bar.  I showed up with my colleague Charlie; we’re both in our 50s, our hair is gray or thinning or both, our faces seamed by decades of care.  No one could mistake us for teens, but we pulled out our photo […]

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We Are Still Married

5/10/2012 – 3:00 pm

“I have overwhelming respect for the sanctity of marriage,” says Vin Scully, voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for 62 years in today’s New York Times.  Mr. Scully was referring to the marital discord of Frank and Jamie McCourt, the gajillionaires who lost control of the Dodgers in a messy divorce. While I have not […]

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Global Warming, As It Pertains to Me

5/3/2012 – 3:04 pm

Friday evening I was tying old shower curtains around my grape arbor.  The temperature was dropping quickly and all along our block, neighbors were busily wrapping fruit trees, to protect the blossoms from two nights of predicted well-below-freezing weather. The wind was up as the front moved in, the light through the clouds held a […]

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Who Else is Peeing?

4/26/2012 – 4:30 pm

Every morning, I get out of bed and first thing, relieve my bladder.  This is neither unusual nor restricted to the middle-aged and above crowd.  What might be unusual (probably is), is the question that so frequently comes to mind in that moment: Who else is peeing? Let me be clear up front, I’m wondering […]

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Accountability

4/19/2012 – 2:19 pm

What is a reasonable cost for a conference for 300 civil servants from across the western US?  Airfare, food, lodging, conference facilities, speakers, prep, etc., etc.  From the news stories, it’s clear that $823,000 is way too much.  Next year’s conference, I’m just guessing, will be substantially less extravagant, so let’s say $300,000.  That means […]

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