All Purls. No Swine.
So there I was, as I often am, chasing down some reference or other that has nothing to do with the point at hand, and I stumbled over the fact that it was only 160 years ago today, on November 19, 1863 (what a very young country this still is), that a President of the… Continue reading “These Honored Dead”
...is to tell their stories. That's what I've tried to do, over the years with my family members, my friends, and many others I've lost over the years. Some of them certainly didn't start out as natural allies. But they all ended up beloved. And the only way I can insure that the world remembers… Continue reading The Best Way to Memorialize the Dead…
One of the most delightful parts of my weekend is opening my email (yes, really, I know how sad that sounds) on Sunday sometime and discovering Douglas Murray’s latest “Things Worth Remembering” installment for The Free Press. I’m a basic (paid) subscriber to the site, so I get all the links and can read the… Continue reading “Seeing God in a Cat”
Well, OK, it's a headline from sixty-two years ago today, but who's counting? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IpdcFKHOrZU?feature=share Not worried. I've already said, here and elsewhere, that in the event of cataclysm, disaster, nuclear catastrophe, holocaust, or anything else, I'm heading for the chicken coop. Most resilient and steadfast structure on the property. I know. I built it. Water--check.… Continue reading People! Build Nuclear Bomb Shelters! Or Else!
Several months ago, I wrote a "very preliminary" book review of John Blashford-Snell’s From Utmost East to Utmost West: My Life of Exploration and Adventure. Happily, someone took me up on the challenge to read the entire book and write the actual whole thing, and the result is this post on the Ricochet main feed. (Worth… Continue reading On Family Memories and the Meaning of “Gift”
It started out as a day like any other day, a day like all the days before--at least like all the days for almost sixty years before--had started out. It started out with us feeling safe, at home in America. In Southwest Pennsylvania, it started out as an idyllic late summer day with sunshine and… Continue reading September 11, 2001
Today, September 9, 2023 is the two-hundred-thirty-second anniversary of the naming of a new city, built on federal land, as the capital of the still-very-young United States of America. The city was named after the country's first President, and the District was named "Columbia," a name still occasionally used at that time for the country… Continue reading Washington Pennsylvania, the First City Named For the First President
I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. What is the best way to handle disagreements? Between friends? Between foes? William Blake, eccentric and brilliant man, early Romantic Poet, Biblical scholar, anti-establishmentarian, advocate for the Free Love movement (who once asked his devoted wife Catherine if it would be alright… Continue reading William Blake: When Friends Fall Out
Crimenutely. Naomi Wolf. King Charles. She’s entering the seventh decade of her life and, thirty-plus years ago, was the darling of the feminist movement, being praised fulsomely by folks like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan alike for her brilliant ideas. However, Camille Paglia never bought it. Something that intelligent women should have paid attention to,… Continue reading Naomi Wolf’s Dishonest Perspective on the Recent Coronation
Yesterday (August 9, 2023) was the thirteenth anniversary of the day I discovered ricochet.com. I've written before about how much that site, and its members, have meant to me over the years, but here's the post from yesterday, the date itself. I urge those of you with a Centerish and Rightwards political bent to take… Continue reading Proudly Declaring My Preferred Pronoun Since 2010!