Category Archives: Commentary

Live Free and Remember

4/25/2013 – 9:09 am

In the Monday morning edition of my neighborhood listserv, the Five Sisters (aka the Five Snitchers), my melodically-named State Representative Suzi Wizowaty posted a call for opinions on the state’s genetic engineering (GE) labeling bill, being considered under the statehouse dome. She’s for the bill, as are most Vermonters.  Local food is big here and […]

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Rereading an Old Letter

4/18/2013 – 2:49 pm

By Tuesday night I already knew the best decision I would make all week was to reread Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that afternoon. The letter came to the world 50 years ago this week (not exactly published, it was mimeographed at first) and was written in response to an open letter to […]

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Baseball, North of the Border

4/11/2013 – 3:19 pm

I’m in Washington, DC this week and since summer is the oppressive season here, people are bemoaning the 90-degree weather, much as I might be enjoying it after a cold spring in Vermont. This town not only swelters with heat but also with passion for the Washington Nationals, who have (for now) the best record […]

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Black Face, White Face

4/4/2013 – 7:53 am

I didn’t understand what was happening during the Louisville-Duke NCAA tournament game Sunday evening.  Suddenly, all the Louisville players were lying on the court, curled in the fetal position.  The announcers seemed equally confused. Then it became clear: Louisville guard Kevin Ware had gone down in front of his team’s bench, his leg unnaturally twisted.  […]

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Entertaining, Unaware

3/28/2013 – 4:17 pm

I read the Bible.  This seems to irritate everyone. My atheist friends don’t get it; many of them fail to appreciate the book at any level.  That’s a pity, because even if the Bible is just a collection of stories, its echoes are heard throughout western culture.  (Is that hegemonic?  Yep, but that’s the culture […]

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After the Flood

3/21/2013 – 9:59 am

Adrienne and I are watching the first season of Tremé on disc.  I resisted this for three years, despite the praise the show – and the way it was made  – received from New Orleans friends. If you haven’t seen it, the HBO series opens three months after Hurricane Katrina and takes place in an […]

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The Irish Letter

3/14/2013 – 12:09 pm

Before the Internet, the passing along of office jokes had to be accomplished with typewriters and copiers.  I remember a few of these coming into my house when I was a child.  (Copiers were then new technology, but Rochester was the home of Xerox). One that stuck in my head was the prototypical “letter from […]

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