Category Archives: Commentary

The Uses of Subtlety

As time goes by, I find I have a greater and greater appreciation for the uses of subtlety. I’m not the only one and I’ve had some powerful teachers along the way. The first was Mohandas Gandhi, who held that unjust laws must be disobeyed. In return for breaking those laws, the British governors of […]

The Art of the Plausible

Tuesday was election day, an off-year election. I didn’t vote this year, not as a protest, but only as an expression of my rootless circumstance. In lieu of voting, I’d like to take a few moments to meditate on the state of American politics in 1997. The phrase that keeps rolling through my mind is, […]

Trick or Treat

Tomorrow is Halloween, which has become a fairly harmless holiday, unless you’re one of those people who think Halloween is an unholy alliance between Satan worshippers and Hallmark cards. After all witches, goblins and the occasional headless horseman are nothing to get upset over compared to say, the conniption fits Wall Street has been through […]

The Fall Classic

Did you see the last game of the American League Championship Series last week? In the bottom of the 11th inning, with a runner on first and two out, Roberto Alomar of the Orioles is standing in the batter’s box facing a full count. Cleveland Indian pitcher Jose Mesa throws a pitch that is way […]

Mariachi to the Rescue

I’m speaking this week from Mount Pleasant, a neighborhood in Washington, DC where life is often not as pleasant as the name implies. Mount Pleasant is home to a number of immigrants from Central America who are clinging to the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder in the nation’s capital. Families try to keep the […]

It Takes an Ecosystem to Raise a Fish

I’m speaking to you this week from the shores of the Gulf of California. Being here is one of the few graces of unemployment. The water of the gulf is a deep blue-green. Shrimp boats from Puerto Penasco trawl along the horizon. Closer to shore, pelicans glide and dive, working the surf. Given the setting, […]

Shooting My Mouth Off

The newspapers reported, a few weeks ago, that a cross-section of Americans was given a quiz about the Constitution and of course, we failed miserably. On one particular point of ignorance, only six percent of those polled could name the four freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. I’ll give you a second if you want to […]