(Portrait of Benjamin Franklin, 1778. Joseph Siffred Duplessis. Metropolitan Museum of Art) Over the last four years or so, events in the United States of America—a country in which, as you know, I myself have no small interest—have made it difficult for those of us who are, shall we say, permanently retired from . . .
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(Photo: A “Sarajevo Rose,” turned into an ersatz war memorial.) I’ve been thinking what to write since last night and I keep drawing a blank. Mostly because I figure you already know whatever I might end up saying. Also, cognitive dissonance, I think. The impossible becomes possible, then it becomes actual, but . . .
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When my son was young we’d read a book or two each night before he went to sleep, and invariably he’d ask for just one more. For that extra read, one title became my favorite: Marvin K. Mooney Won’t You Please Go Now, by Dr. Seuss: “The time has come! The time is . . .
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Photo: University of Central Florida the soul, after alldoesn’t exist by itselfit needs to take the formof the things it inhabits…-Elidio La Torre Lagares, from Arecibo Observatory On December 1st, I woke up to the news that the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory had collapsed. A cable holding the main platform in place . . .
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(Photo: Bengt Ekeroth and Max von Sydow in The Seventh Seal, 1957. © Svensk Filmindustri. Ingmar Bergman, director) So, is it just a game for them, with us? If you think it through, that simple idea would make their every move not simply justifiable, but impeccable. Even in the endgame, a true master . . .
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It’s so fitting that the Trump era has ushered in toilet paper shortages in the US. Should the current coup attempt somehow still succeed, and we find ourselves in an endless loop of rule-by-tweet-from-the-gilded-toilet known as Trumpworld, fear not, my fellow Americans—we Soviet refugees can teach you a lot about how to . . .
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(Photo: Lines from Roque Dalton’s Poema de Amor on a wall near the offices of Al Otro Lado in Tijuana, México, courtesy of Katherine Silver) Roque Dalton Love Poem Translated from Spanish by Katherine Silver Those men who widened the Panama Canal(and were paid from the silver roll instead of the gold roll)who rebuilt the Pacific . . .
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(Photo: Beanie in the Tunnel, June 2, 2020. Anne Ehrhart.) November 6th, 2020 Anne and I have been holding our breathfor three days, trying not to think,or feel, or contemplate the implicationsof another four years of madnessif our current president should win,astounded it should be so closewe still don’t know who won.What . . .
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In 2016, after a woman accused him of putting his hand up her skirt while on an airplane, Trump told supporters at a campaign event, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” The crowd laughed. More than two dozen women have accused the president of sexual misconduct . . .
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Hello, Michiganders. It’s been almost four years now since I last checked in, though I’ve often wondered how you’re doing. I do come back for visits, once in a blue moon, but that’s no excuse for not calling or writing. Given everything that’s happened this year, and with the election just days away, . . .
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