Many slogans have flooded social media in the last few years. They have some things in common, and they also have differences. In the mid 1980’s worry about climate and concern for the health of our planet were prominent. A slogan that came out of this period was “Save the Rainforest”. Most people […]
The killing of Walter Wallace Jr. has brought turmoil and unanswered questions about justice and accountability to the streets of Philadelphia. We must acknowledge that this shooting is part of a pattern of shooting black men and women that is occurring with increasing frequency in this society. Every time there is a police shooting […]
Carol and I bought our first house five years ago. We knew the house would require work and money, and we have replaced the roof, the furnace, the hot water heater, the main electrical panel, and done many other repairs during that time. I am presently reading “Caste” written by Isabela Wilkerson, in […]
I have been reluctant to write about politics and current issues during this pandemic. Out of respect for the health and economic concerns of people, I have held my voice yet may events have been happening that clutch at my conscience. I have chosen six events that jump out for me, fully realizing that you, […]
And, no, it is not a turkey. These words were spoken to me by my daughter, Zeneba, when she and her husband, Matt, called us this morning on a Thanksgiving call from Soriano, Italy. She said them to me after I was telling her the following story on that phone call. The encounter with the […]
I wrote a letter to the editor at the Inquirer but it appears it will not be accepted so I decided to make a blog entry about it. I was responding to an op-ed article written by Christine Flowers. Some of you locally may recognize her as a frequent contributor to the Inquirer and she […]
In the last budget for Pennsylvania the Republican Legislature added a little extra to the budget. They completely eliminated the General Assistance Program. They have been trying to do this for seven years but Gov. Wolf vetoed any budget that included this elimination. This past year money was included for Medicaid to be paid to […]
The picture of a child crying is taken in Mississippi following the ICE raid at multiple chicken processing plants. It represents the trumpian policy of using cruelty and fear to intimidate whole groups of people. That it took place one day after a mass shooting of Latinos in El Paso, perpetrated by a white nationalist […]
I want to share an experience that I had many years ago that I have shared only in part before this, and then with just a small number of people. In 1970 I was in the military and I was part of an event that was called the Jordanian Crisis. This crisis was a fierce […]
There have been some recent articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer about turnover issues in the teaching profession. Sometimes referred to as ‘churn’, this turnover is destructive to the profession of teaching and the articles did offer some salient observations about this problem. I believe that a look at the larger picture of teacher turnover is […]
