“The Other” (Us vs Them)
Why Write About THEM?
Every now and then someone asks me, why do you write about people like that? I ask, people like what? Well, these folks say, you seem like a pretty happy person, more or less, and you have a great marriage and you like where you live and you love your dog and you don’t worry…
Read MoreA Great Day At The Prison
Some days are just wonderful. It’s My Best Beloved’s birthday, and it’s Bailey’s birthday (our dog, known asThe Rescuepoo), and the hot-off-the-presses copy of my new novel arrived in the mail, which just makes me giddy with grinning . . . . but. . . the most wonderful thing about today happened in a prison.…
Read MoreChief Theresa Spence — A Moral Hero
I have been wondering, over the past days, how to tackle the subject of Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike, the “Idle No More” movement, and the treatment of First Nations people by the Canadian government. My disappointment in Prime Minister Harper and his government grows with every hour. I am a Canadian with English, Irish…
Read More"I Would Rather Be With You Today. . . "
I’ve been meaning to write a blog for a few days now, but I keep starting and then stopping. There seems so much to say, about many things: the US election, my ‘magical uterus’, hurricanes, what constitutes rape, gun ownership and now this — the mob of Israeli Jewish teenagers who beat an Arab teenager…
Read MoreThe Neighbor as "The Other"
One afternoon some years ago when I lived in the French Alps, I was driving home with my friend Joan, a Liverpudlian (or ‘Scouser’ as she proudly called herself) who lived in the hamlet below my house, which was farther up the mountain. We had been for lunch in nearby Annecy, a medieval town of…
Read MoreWhy I Am Against The Death Penalty
Unless there is a last minute reprieve, Troy Davis will be executed today in Georgia, for a crime he probably didn’t commit. You can read about his case by clicking here. Although I generally fight to be optimistic about these things, I feel little optimism today, and although I have signed petitions and made phone…
Read MoreLet THEM die (but not us)
Last night I watched a snippet of the Republican debate — that startling moment when moderator Wolf Blitzer asked candidate Ron Paul if he thought a hypothetical 30-year-old uninsured man who needed health care should be left to die, and several people in the audience called out, “Yeah!” “Let him die!” Watch it by clicking…
Read MoreBishop Tutu on "The Other"
The theme of my soon-to-be-released novel, OUR DAILY BREAD is that when we view someone as “The Other” the result is inevitably–to greater or lesser degree–negative. I am certainly not the only person who believes this. For example, my friend Chris Hedges, in his book, WAR IS A FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING, speaks most…
Read MoreJustice. And conflicted emotion.
“JUSTICE has been done.” In this way, President Obama began his speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden. Navy Seals led a raid on a compound in a small, affluent Pakistani town and killed the “mastermind” behind Al-Queda and the unspeakable events of 9/11. The world, or at least those who aren’t bin Laden…
Read MoreTake the Neo-Nazis Bowling
Today in my state capital, which is a largely African-American city, neo-nazis are apparently holding a rally in front of the state house. Reports say 100 such young men are scheduled to show up, wave banners and shout whatever they think is important. Another group of people, the New Black Panthers, are planning to counter-protest. …
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