Author Archives: floegel

Everything Converges

2/12/2009 – 1:52 pm

I’m in Rochester, New York, my hometown, today. I don’t get here much and it’s been a while since I last visited. I can still find my way around, more or less. I have the experience common to ghosts when I look for things where I expect them to be and see they’ve been replaced […]

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The Arrogance Virus

2/5/2009 – 10:37 am

This time last week, Barack Obama was calling Wall Street bankers “shameful” for taking huge bonuses a) in the midst of an economic crisis that b) they caused and c) using taxpayer money that was meant to stabilize their banks. How could these guys be so clueless and out of touch? Sure, they shuttle between […]

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Don’t Expect to Like It

1/29/2009 – 10:46 am

I was helping a young Latin scholar with her homework last weekend. (“Helping” may be an overstatement. I read the correct answers off a sheet of paper.) She kept getting hung up on the difference between “satisfied” (contentus) and “happy” (gauisis). She’s not alone and distinguishing between the two, in whatever language, can be crucial. […]

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Miracle on the Potomac

1/22/2009 – 8:37 am

Inauguration Day in Washington, DC was cold. Not Vermont cold, but around 30 degrees, cold enough when standing in one place for several hours on end. The sun poured from a clear sky and warmed my face. Adrienne and I were on the national mall Tuesday, proud to swell the ranks even if we represented […]

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Smart is Not Enough

1/15/2009 – 11:07 am

I’m in Washington, DC this week and the town reels already with inauguration fever, even as the temperature plunges. As I type, a flatbed truck bearing 12 port-o-sans drives past the window, headed for the National Mall, there to await the expected millions next Tuesday. At least this week, the capital’s homeless will find a […]

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A View from the Cave

1/8/2009 – 11:18 am

Just over 29 years ago, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and a number of Muslims decided they’d had enough interference by western nations in the affairs of Islamic nations and launched what they considered holy war against the invaders. The US, via the CIA helped with money, weapons and training. If you watched “Charlie Wilson’s […]

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“Your reclamation, then.”

12/25/2008 – 11:50 am

Merry Christmas. Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” has been on my mind frequently during this holiday season. There are three (maybe more) potential reasons for this. 1 – Mr. Dickens wrote a timeless piece of literature, one that speaks to people in every age and circumstance. 2 – With the global economy crashing, this Christmas […]

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