Posts By: Janet Givens
I have a batch of draft posts on my WordPress site — thoughts I’ve jotted down over the years, ideas that percolated for a time, then went flat. And every now and then (like today) I look them over, delete a few, ponder a few more, and, occasionally (like today) I go, “Eureka!” and know… more »
Last week’s post on the history of our Pledge of Allegiance (What Do You Know About our Pledge of Allegiance?) brought me new information. It also got me chewing on something I’d not spent much time with before. Just what is this thing we have our school children do, and why has it become such… more »
For the Americans among us, when’s the last time you thought about your Pledge of Allegiance? Do you remember reciting it in grammar school? High School? Could you recite it from memory today? I could, and I imagine you could too. September 8 is the anniversary of the Pledge’s debut. I won’t tell you how… more »
I’m musing again still. The Wall Street Journal had a headline a few weeks ago: How to Give Unsolicited Advice Without Being Annoying. I was intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? Turns out I needed a subscription to find out their answer, so I turned to the next best thing — I mused, How does… more »
Musing on age aging? I can’t seem to get into it. I find I have nothing to say about turning 72 this week, though I have tried. May Sarton wrote a whole book on the topic. Well, on the year she turned 70. Same thing. But, when you get right down to it, even that… more »
So many musings this week. The Democratic National Convention is on. It’ll be a more sober convention this time around, fitting in this sobering time. I’ve not actually watched it yet as I’m writing this a few days ahead. And I’m wondering now what it is that whomever-designs-these-TV-spectacles wants to capture. Will I feel the… more »
I’m musing again and today I’ve lit upon temperature and the thermometers we use to measure it. Celsius or Fahrenheit? The 0 to 100 scale or the 32 to 212 scale? These days, one can find a Fahrenheit thermometer in use only in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Liberia, Palau, The Federated States of Micronesia,… more »
Today, with the American dream falling apart at our feet, CoViD knocking on our doors louder and louder, systemic racism exposed finally for all throughout this country (in the north as well as the south) to see, and the climate crisis marching unflinchingly across the globe, I thought you might join me in a bit… more »
COURAGE: the final installment in the Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage 2020 Tour. Curiosity pushes us to open the box, explore the myth, or initiate a conversation with someone we don’t understand. Compassion brings an empathetic consciousness to what we find. Our decision to choose compassion is often harder than we expect. How much easier it… more »
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