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Broadway and more

BROADWAY AND MORE

Deena and I joined two friends Sharon and Ed Carloni this week for a quick getaway to New York City.  We began by taking an Amtrak train 130 miles south to Penn Station located in the heart of Manhattan. The Amtrak ride was occasionally bumpy, but comfortable overall.  Penn Station is located near the Madison Square Garden.  I remember going to the Garden as a child to see the circus.  Once we arrived last Wednesday around noon, we took a cab to the nearby Intercontinental Hotel on 44th Street, adjoining...

Stay in your lane and you won't get hurt

STAY IN YOUR LANE AND YOU WON’T GET HURT

This was essentially the message of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts as he promised that a second Donald Trump term as President would launch a revolution, with tens of thousands of dedicated, patriotic Americans purged from their jobs simply because they happen to be career civil servants loyal to the U.S. Constitution rather than the whims and whines of one man.  Suddenly, the deliberations of fifty-five level-headed Americans at the Constitutional Convention will be subordinate to the narcissistic personality outbursts of one...

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

With the 2024 general election barely five months away, I wanted to explore the theme of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, “Make America Great Again.”  Win or lose, it has remained the same since he ran for president in 2012.  It has become a brand among Mr. Trump’s followers and a mantra for any Republican politician who hopes to keep his job or avoid threats against his family. Nor have women of integrity in the political hierarchy of the Republican Party (such as Liz Cheney) been...

Synchronicity

SYNCHRONICITY

The feature photo (above) is an AI generated image of the Tree of Life which existed in the Garden of Eden but no longer exists in the world, though God promises to restore it at the end of the age. It shows something that existed at the beginning of life on this planet and which will be restored at the very end when the curse is lifted once and for all. The word “synchronicity” was used and defined by Carl Jung as”...

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ANTAEUS

One of the earliest heroes I discovered in Greek mythology was Antaeus. I’m not sure if it was Edith Hamilton or Bulfinch who introduced me to him, but Antaeus sounded like a pretty cool dude to a ten-year-old like me. Back in the fifties, we didn’t have Ironman or Spider Man like kids have now. Antaeus was a giant of person, the scion of two gods, Gaia (earth) and Poseidon. Antaeus, with his six pack über abs, loved to wrestle....

Game of Thrones

GAME OF THRONES

The art and science of gaming is increasingly important in politics as it is in other fields. Political games are like the tabletop exercises that disaster responders use to understand what resources they need for a disaster or a threat. Then, there are also full-scale exercises. About twenty years ago while still working at my college, I was asked to chair a disaster exercise involving actors (participants) from various levels of government. It included the county sheriff’s department, three or...

Scarlet Letters

SCARLET LETTERS

Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter is one of the most widely-read books in our society.  It has been adapted into many different plays and movies.  Hawthorne’s book is named for the Puritan practice of “belling” or “tagging” a person with a scarlet letter indicating their crime.  In this case, it is the letter “A”; that of a pregnant woman named Hester Prynne who is married to a husband she hasn’t seen in years. There is much historical truth in the background to Hawthorne’s novel.  In 1694,...

Putin and Poo

PUTIN AND POO

Aesop is a legendary figure of whom many ancient writers speak of.  In his early years, he was quite possibly a slave, but eventually earned his freedom.  He was arrested in the Greek city of Delphi for insulting the Delphians, and thrown off a cliff to his death. Aesop was said to have written 725 fables which still exist and which were meant for entertainment purposes, but which also convey a moral or practical message to readers.  In this post (Putin and Poo)...

STOCHERE NICHT IM BIENENSTOCK

Äsop ist eine legendäre Figur, von der viele antike Schriftsteller berichten. In seinen frühen Jahren war er wahrscheinlich ein Sklave, aber schließlich erlangte er seine Freiheit. Er wurde in der griechischen Stadt Delphi verhaftet, weil er die Delphier beleidigt hatte, und von einer Klippe in den Tod gestürzt. Äsop soll 725 Fabeln verfasst haben, die noch heute existieren und die zur Unterhaltung gedacht waren, aber auch eine moralische oder praktische Botschaft an die Leser vermitteln. Eine solche Fabel ist Der...

IMAGINATION VERSUS MYTH

Some of you may have been aware of the controversy when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”  The author of the original story, itself, Hans Christian Andersen, described Ariel by saying “. . . her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.”  How does this description fit Ms. Bailey?  And were the outraged fans simply literalists who insisted that the director and producers of the movie follow Andersen’s plotline...

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