July 7, 201 My dog is sick. Every kid should have a dog. Sometimes, though, it is rough. My dog, Oliver, a ten-year-old Wheaten terrier was just diagnosed with lymphoma. We don’t know what the possibilities are for him, for it is too soon. If he goes, this will leave an emotional hole in the … Read more
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris ARBEIT MACHT FREI: The most cynical three words of the twentieth century There are six million stories of one, single people group. Six million lives, murdered by ethnic prejudice, delusional fears, pathological hatred and political opportunism, total the horrific number of innocents condemned by a factory system emerging … Read more
Somewhere between a whistle-blowing and a confessional, this 271-page mea culpa is an autobiographical gut-spilling of an economic hit man (EHM) employed in a thirty-year-or-so career by a major international company to further the power, control and profit of the American Empire, as he describes it. As a confessional, it is a personal account of … Read more
Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges A quick bio note: Chris Hedges, born in 1956, with a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School, is an award-winning journalist who, at one time, was the bureau chief for the Middle East for the New York Times. He is the author of many books … Read more
As tapeworms gnaw inside a starving gut, The monkeys on my back oft strangle me; My furies scream and chatter vulgar smut— This chorus wails in counter-harmony Oh, every morning they do greet me thus And paralyse and cauterise my will; I cannot rise for they are ponderous And so, my stagnant soul with dross … Read more
A Sonnet for a Birthday Old recollections are the strangest things: Those mem’ries seen in rear view mirrors’ glass They’re hard to catch but fade by darkening As time moves on receding—vague—alas! We treasure them and never let them go, Yet see what is to come each bright new day. The past dies not—sure more … Read more
The Turtle Who Wanted to be a Water Snake Oh, there once was a turtle named Freddy, To make friends he was never quite ready; He was terribly shy, And ne’er could he try To meet girl friends or ever go steady. He was paranoid, frightened and glum; To converse he felt constantly dumb, And … Read more
When hearts are mourning, pasts are realised, And truths come forth from depths to be addressed; The quiet passing of a man needs grief expressed. Time will claim the soul—that jewel prized, But through that cloud a shining light is cast And mem’ries vibrant chant a favoured name To all his people—for no one could … Read more