Happy Birthday, America!
I thank my non-USA readers for indulging us today. It’s our Independence Day, our Fourth of July, our nation’s birthday (sort of; more on that next month). Do check out the link I’ve added at the end, filled with … Read More
When Words Matter: Refugee or Immigrant?
My post is arriving a little late today. Here’s why. Friday, my post was ready. It’s title: World Refugee Day. Here’s how it began: Did you know that June 20 is World Refugee Day? I didn’t, until I set my blogging … Read More
When Memory Fades: Another “50 Years Ago” Story
Fifty years ago this week — on a very late Tuesday June 4th evening — I was coloring my hair in the New Jersey apartment I shared with my mother. Recoloring I should say. And it wasn’t … Read More
Remembering Kent State
On Monday, May 4, 1970, at twenty minutes past noon, 28 National Guardsmen fired 61 shots into a crowd of college students on the hill above, leaving four dead and nine wounded. It lasted just 13 seconds. This was something … Read More
The Downside of Empathy
Two weeks ago, in Cultivating Empathy: My Journey to Understand, I shared this fairly common definition of empathy: the ability to walk in the shoes of another person, to live their life momentarily, to understand the world inside their head. … Read More
Earth Day 2018
Earth Day began in 1970, officially. And I have no memory of it at all. My first one was the following year while I was a student at NYU. My memory of it is fleeing: I’m walking along … Read More
Cultivating Empathy: My Journey to Understand
Diane Ackerman wrote a lovely (delightful actually) book called Cultivating Delight. It was a memoir of sorts, but, subtitled A Natural History of My Garden, it was also a garden book. I’m pulling from that title for today’s post, Cultivating Empathy: … Read More
50 Years Ago, Again
What do you remember from April, 1968? Do your memories revolve around sports? Fashion? Popular culture? The news? Politics? Who were you dating back then? Where were you in school? What do you remember from fifty years ago? Here’s what … Read More
Looking Back at 1968
I was sorting through old papers in my office a few weeks ago. Here you go; take a look. I know; it’s a mess. But forget that part. This is not a post on clutter and cleanliness. … Read More