Berkeley, CA August 3, 2020 — On the same day as the present occupant of the White House informed us that the election which will determine whether he continues to reside there may or may not be held as scheduled on November 3, depending on whether he decides to postpone it, a curious article appeared, […]
Berkeley, CA, July 27, 2020 – This week, as I did my daily disabled, hobbled, walker trek around my nearly deserted, once bustling, South Berkeley neighborhood, I was startled as I analyzed my thoughts. I found in my head’s headlines “I Feel So Sorry for Him!” “Him” being Donald Trump. I had finished reading the […]
Berkeley, CA July 20, 2020 — You’re wandering around the East Bay Hills, energized with the desire to express solidarity with millions of your fellow citizens, angry and determined to do something abut the source of their anger. Look for a little sign saying “Steam Trains” and an adjacent parking lot on the east […]
Berkeley, CA July 13, 2020 — When you’re in the midst of what seems to be a historically notable period, it’s very difficult to tell what that “midst” is. Or how long it will last before one can credibly say it’s “over.” In 1763, those recently arrived North Americans who opposed British rule had little idea they […]
Berkeley, CA June 29, 2020 — Once, I lived, very briefly, with bats. It was in a partially collapsed barn, on the edge of a large 50-acre field in southeast Vermont. Once part of a setting for small subsistence farms, partly gone to seed. The 20 or 30 cows who once grazed there had been […]
Berkeley, CA June 22, 2020 — The Fusion Centers were working overtime this past week. You probably didn’t know. Reading daily newspapers wouldn’t have helped you. Nor would listening to the radio or watching TV. And unless you happen to have the internet-diving skills of an Edward Snowden or a Julian Assange (not to equate […]
From the headlines: “Ailing Nations Push to Reopen, Accepting More Illness as the Price to Pay” “Despite Growth in Cases, Easily Distracted Washington Moves On” “Fed Chair Sees Years of Economic Woes” “Heaps of Complaints, but Police Resist Change” “Troops Shaken by Warlike Tactics in the Streets of Washington” “From the Boss: Sign a Waiver […]
Berkeley, CA June 8, 2020 — “Trump called the May jobs report a ‘tremendous tribute to equality’ although it showed that African American employment actually declined last month. And he suggested that George Floyd would be pleased at the news. ‘Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying “This is a great thing happening […]
Berkeley, CA June 1, 2020 — Coast to coast, they’re drifting back to campuses, starting this week. From modest institutions like the San Mateo Union School District to medium size campuses like Fresno State to megabucks domains like USC, unused buildings and open spaces will start to look inhabited again. Inhabited not by students and […]
Berkeley, CA May 25, 2020 — Let’s look at history. At 11 a.m. on November 13, 1941, three weeks before the Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy’s ships at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, the entire New York City school system, 1.1 million students in 1000 schools, participated simultaneously in a drill. These expanded nationwide during the […]
Berkeley, CA, May 18, 2020 – With the still largely undefined and unvanquished coronavirus continuing to ravage the world to an unknown degree, the spotlight now seems to be shifting to another unknown, undefined, and unvanquished phenomenon. Money. Massive budget deficits are projected for just about every national, state, international and local jurisdiction. Revenues are […]